There is a lot of concern among Trail Blazer fans about having to win a game at Houston somewhere along the line in this series against the Rockets, because the Blazers haven’t had a lot of success winning there in recent seasons. But we’ve already seen more than half the visiting teams in playoff series come up with wins on the road.

One reason for visiting-team success in the postseason people don’t talk about much is one of the most powerful. Quite simply, in the regular season the visiting teams are at a much bigger disadvantage than they are in the playoffs in regard to preparation time. Really, it’s a huge deal.

But given proper time to prepare, the visiting team is going to do much better.

First, it’s important to understand that when teams go out on regular-season road trips, they play as many games as possible in as short amount of time as possible. They’re cramming a lot of games into not many days. This does not happen at home. You don’t ever play five games in seven nights at home — but you will on the road.

The Trail Blazers, for example, played road games on back-to-back nights eight times. How many times did they do that at home? Zero. Even when you have a day off in between road games, it’s usually a travel day and practice times are unsettled or nonexistent. That’s why almost all the Western Conference playoff teams have excellent home records. They are good teams and visiting teams don’t have a chance to get ready to play them during the regular season.

Sure, some buildings are tougher to play in than others. But NBA players get used to the hostile crowds and noise pretty fast. It’s just that on the road in the regular season, the games come at you so fast and furiously that half the time you can’t remember who you’re playing next until you get there.

Portland met Houston three times this season. The only home game was Nov. 6, when the Blazers had played Utah the previous night on the road — so Portland didn’t even get preparation time for a HOME game. Then in the Portland games on the road against the Rockets, the Blazers were fortunate enough to have a day off prior to the games — but both were travel days.

The point is, there is very little time for teams to do a lot of preparation in the regular season – especially for the road team. That leads to largely out-of-proportion home records. I think this helps a team like Houston at home more than most teams because the Rockets are radically different than the rest of the league. They have the most unusual player in the league, Yao Ming, and they play a different style — the slowest pace in the NBA. It takes special preparation to play them well.

The Blazers have had time for that preparation in the playoffs. It showed in Game 2, when they were more comfortable attacking the basket and getting into the paint against the Rockets.

I’ve said it all along, but I believe the longer the series goes, the better Portland will play. Part of it is the youth of the Blazers. They’ll grow and they’ll also probably stay fresher because of their young legs. But they’ll also be aided by their continued opportunity to become accustomed to playing against this very unusual team.

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I mentioned in a previous post that a veteran NBA front-office guy was in the Rose Garden last night and I quoted him about the Blazers’ use of Oden. One other thing of note he said is worth passing along – even though it’s going to irk so many of you.

“I have never, in my long career in the NBA, been in an arena where the fans are so sensitive to the officiating,” he said. “Man, they’re irate about EVERY call. I think the Blazers were called for about only seven fouls in the entire first half and they screamed at every one of them. It was kind of embarrassing.”

Trust me, folks, he isn’t the only one who has said that. I’ve heard visiting media say the same thing. Is this part of what makes Portland’s homecourt advantage so big? Or is it eventually going to blow up and cause officials to go the other way? Or does it matter?

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