Down stretch, teams eschew home court for rest

BOSTON—It was, at halftime, 34-28, Miami. The Celtics were shooting 31.4 percent from the field, and the Heat were only slightly better, 40.5 percent. Boston had gone with a starting lineup that featured Sasha Pavlovic and Ryan Hollins in place of Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett. The Heat were without Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, with Mike Miller, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem in their place.

Bear in mind, this was not a throwaway game for either team. For the Celtics, slated to play the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs starting this weekend, home-court advantage was at stake. For the Heat, a chance to stay in the chase for the No. 1 seed in the East was in play—which would mean home court in a potential conference final showdown against Chicago. In the end, the Celtics won, 78-66, meaning they will continue jockeying with the Hawks for playoff position this week, while the Heat will have to settle for second in the East.

But the game serves to highlight what has become a bit of an embarrassing problem for the league lately—teams with sewn-up playoff spots are simply not taking the fight for seeding all that seriously, choosing to focus on rest rather than on moving up in the standings or securing home-court advantage.