If your conference wins the AS game, you get home court advantage in the finals if you have the better W/L record against your opponent.

If your conference wins the AS game, but your opponent has a better W/L record than you in the finals, you get a chance at home court which is your wins (X) vs their wins (Y):

  • Your chance = X / (X+Y)

  • Their chance = Y / (X+Y)

So in 2023, the Nuggets had 53 wins and the Heat had 44 wins. If West won the All-Star game, the Nuggets are guaranteed home court advantage 100%. If East won the All-Star game, 53/97 (55%) chance that Nuggets get home court advantage, 44/97 (45%) chance that the Heat get home court advantage.

This makes it so that players will actualy want to win in the All-Star game because it means something. If your team has the All-Star win and you have a better record than your opponent, you are guaranteed home court advantage. If you have the All-Star win, but you have a worse regular record, then at least you have a chance at home court. This incentivizes winning the All-Star game and it also rewards doing well in the regular season as it makes a team more likely to get home court advantage in the finals.

  • darkest__timelineB
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    11 months ago

    Players aren’t trying to play hard during their week off and definitely don’t want to get injured in an exhibition game