Justice B. Hill

CLEVELAND - Wizards coach Ed Tapscott was sitting in a downtown coffee shop last week when a Cavaliers fan recognized him and approached to wish him luck.

Tapscott welcomed the man’s kindness, but he knew it lacked sincerity. For the sort of luck the man wished the Wizards was ill.

The man could have saved his breath, because coach after coach who has come into Quicken Loans Arena this season has had just one kind of luck: bad.

“We got to talking, and I said, ‘You guys aren’t use to seeing any losses here in Cleveland,’” Tapscott said. “And he said, ‘Yeah, you get spoiled pretty quickly when you see something like this.’”

With a record that looks like a misprint, the Cleveland Cavaliers have gone 39-2 at The Q, as people here call the arena. What team goes 39-2 at home in any professional sport? It doesn’t happen — ever. Not even in video games. Does it? Nobody, unless he’s a raving madman or a fool, dares to even dream of such a record.

Yet 41 times the Cavaliers have taken the floor at The Q, and 39 times they have left the court winners, a record that includes a 111-110 loss in overtime Wednesday night to the Philadelphia 76ers in which starters LeBron James, Mo Williams and Zydrunas Ilgauskas didn’t dress. The Cavs have turned The Q into an advantage that no arena can rival.

Their home record matches the second best in NBA history. It’s a record that put the Cavaliers a loss behind the 1985-86 Celtics as the only team to go through an 82-game season with one loss at home.

“Every executive, everybody in the league talks about protecting your home court,” Tapscott said. “That is the place you solidify yourself for the year. They’ve done a better job of that than anybody in history just about.”

Since their 101-91 loss Feb. 8 to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Cavs rolled off victory after victory at home, transforming The Q into a house of horrors for opponents at the top and the bottom of the NBA standings.

The Cavs haven’t been too particular about the opponent they beat. Neither are their wild and crazy crowds.

Night after night, they packed the joint. They remade the atmosphere inside the arena into what Jacobs Field used to be a decade ago when the Indians were a premier team in Major League Baseball and pounded visiting teams into submission.

Those Indians fans have lent their allegiance to the Cavs. The energy they once brought to “The Jake” has stoked a caldron of emotion inside The Q.

During Cavs games, the arena is 10 billion watts of energy. From the pyrotechnics that precede the player introductions to the pulsating rhythms of hip-hop to the nonstop cheers that inspire the other-worldly play of James and his gang, The Q is the arena that is destined to play a starring role in who will be the next NBA champions.

Slideshow   Are you a witness? A look at the highs and lows of Cavaliers guard LeBron James' career.

With the best overall record in the NBA this season, the Cavaliers look like the odds-on favorite. They hold home-court advantage in every round, and The Q makes their edge look broader than the horizon.

“Being home is better than being on the road,” James said.

To think otherwise borders on delusional. To dismiss what home court has meant to the Cavaliers is delusional, too.

The trappings of the arena do play a part in the team’s success, but it doesn’t hurt the Cavs and their fans to have LeBron. He and the arena have proved a formidable pair, and an NBA coach with championship aspirations of his own knows The Q will be a place where a team will make playoff history.

“We can look at no other place we’d rather be in the playoffs, because that would mean we’re in the Eastern Conference Finals,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Sunday after his defending NBA champions lost at The Q. “As far as we’re concerned, we want to come back to Cleveland.

“That’s what we’re looking at.”

Does Rivers or anybody else have much choice?

Also on NBCSports.com Rosenthal: Saints win with aggressive ‘ambush’ Trash Talk: How will Manning rebound from loss? NBA: ProBasketballTalk is here! Check out new blog NCAA BK: Who's in, who's out? Updated bracket projections Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

MORE FROM NBA

NBA Section Front

Kobe falling apart physically — he should sit Kobe remains a game-time decision for Wed.   Vote: Should Kobe bench himself to heal his injuries? Live updates on Tuesday’s NBA games   Wizards stranded again after 2nd snowstorm   PBT: Celtics might trade Big Baby Winderman: Quiet trade front might be ready to boil over PBT: GM Ferry believes Cavaliers can win as is Cavs' West not expected to play against Nets PBT: Train wreck warning — 76ers might bench A.I.   NBA Section Front   Add NBA headlines to your news reader: