The Elite 2025 Conference Semifinals Have Seen The Road Teams Dominate

The 2025 NBA Playoffs have been great theater thus far, and the 2025 Conference Semifinals have been no different. This year is the first time in the Conference Semifinal round that all four road teams have won the first game of the series, and the Pacers have won the first two games of the series against Cleveland. Each series has had different circumstances; however, to get us to this nomenclature of a moment in time, especially with how the Boston and OKC Game 1s played out. But let’s look at these situations as a whole. 

Eastern Conference Semifinals

The Eastern Conference Semifinals have been insane thus far, especially with the blown leads. Both Boston and Cleveland have had a game in each series with a blown lead, Game 1 for Boston and Game 2 for the Cavaliers. But both the Knicks and Pacers have been great in clutch time all season long. Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Haliburton were the best players on the court in those moments in each of those games in their respective series. 

The Celtics MISSED 45 THREES in Game 1, which was a crazy situation in of itself, and after having a 20-point lead in the fourth, they didn’t move the ball inside of the three-point line at all in 9 of 10 possessions. So that was a bad game plan with the lead, which led to the loss in that game. And the Cavaliers are injured as well, but the Pacers have taken advantage and grabbed that series by the throat. The Western Conference Semifinals were a similar story on why both Golden State and Denver won those games, especially the Nuggets. So let’s look at those series. 

Western Conference Finals 

The Warriors were impressive on Tuesday night, especially losing Stephen Curry due to a left hamstring injury. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves had a terrible shooting night again, like they did in Game 5 of the Lakers series. So, that game was self-explanatory; the road team won that game. But the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets game on Monday was an example of a poor use of the fouling-up-three-points strategy that I have ever seen in my years of watching the game of basketball. 

The Thunder GAVE that game to the Nuggets! Yes, Jokic had 42, 22, and 6 for the Nuggets and was the best player on the floor, but the Thunder would have won that game if they let some time run off the clock on the second sequence they fouled with Jokic on the bench! That was a crazy sequence that helped facilitate this historical stat to happen. 

Final Thoughts 

Yes, so far the Road teams have won every single game of the Conference Semifinals, but there were circumstances in flawed performance by the home teams that let that happen. These games in the Conference Semifinals have been entertaining to this point, and I loved every game except the Warriors vs the Timberwolves because of the Wolves’ poor performance in Game 1. I don’t think this road teams trend is lasting much longer, but it was fun while it lasted, and it created some intrigue in the NBA playoffs as a whole.