Let’s go back to the 2003 Eastern Conference finals.
The top-seeded Detroit Pistons were playing the savvier New Jersey Nets, who’d reached the NBA Finals the year before. The Pistons were on the rise, but the Jason Kidd-led Nets were better. New Jersey just happened to win 49 regular-season games, one fewer than Detroit.
So, the Pistons hosted Games 1 and 2. Mehmet Okur missed two potential game-tying shots in the final seconds of Game 1, which the Nets won by two. The Nets also won Game 2 by two when Chauncey Billups missed a buzzer-beater.
Down 2-0 and deflated, the Pistons had little fight left in New Jersey.