Is There a Home Choke in Decisive Playoff Basketball Games?

Previous studies (Baumeister & Steinhilber, 1984; Schlenker, Phillips, Boniecki, & Schlenker (1995a) have found conflicting results regarding whether home teams have an advantage or not in athletic performance. We conducted two studies to explore the effects of basketball teams playing at home in playoff competition. We archived more than fifty years of National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff data, extending previous research to include a longer range of time and broader sample of NBA playoff games. We also extended previous studies by archiving a unique sample of college playoff basketball competition. Results are discussed in terms of both theoretical and applied implications. In sum, we found virtually no evidence of a home choke and strong evidence in favor of a home court advantage.