Home-court advantage won’t be a factor for teams in the 2020 NBA playoffs, since games will be played without fans at the neutral Disney complex. It’s all part of the “bubble” concept to reduce COVID-19 risks.
However, there are certain individuals who might still find their own advantages from the unique and unprecedented format.
One of those could be Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers. His father, Doc, coached the Orlando Magic from 1999 throuh 2004, which means that Austin grew up in the area. In a Zoom conference call Friday, the younger Rivers joked that his local experience could prove quite helpful when the NBA’s 2019-20 finally resumes later this month. He said:
The NBA is going to Disney World. I mean, think about how crazy that sentence is. We have all the practice courts being laid down at convention centers and Wide World of Sports.
By the way, nobody has played in those places more than me. I don’t know a player in the NBA who has scored more points in The Milk House or the Wide World of Sports. I grew up in Orlando, so this is a true homecourt advantage for me, to be completely honest.
#KHOU11 Which #NBA player has scored more points on the courts at Walt Disney World .. than any other? #Rockets Guard Austin Rivers @AustinRivers25 believes it's him …. and he's excited! pic.twitter.com/3vt4ftmAxe
— Matt Musil (@KHOUSportsMatt) July 3, 2020
The Milk House is the former name of one of the site’s basketball venues.
As for Rivers, he was in quite a groove when we last saw the Rockets (40-24) before this season’s COVID-19 hiatus. After sitting out two games in January to let a thumb injury heal, Rivers shot 44.4% on 3-pointers over 22 games from Jan. 22 to March 10 — which remains the last game that Houston has played. That lofty 3-point percentage came on reasonably high volume, too, at an average of 4.1 attempts in 24.2 minutes per game.
The 27-year-old will look to keep that form going when Houston’s season finally resumes on July 31. At a mnimum, it certainly can’t hurt that he’s more familiar than anyone in the league with the facilities.
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