Since 1985, in order to cut-down on cross-country travel for the hundreds of staff and media working the championship series, the NBA has used the 2-3-2 format for The Finals, with the team with the better regular-season record hosting Games 1, 2, 6 and 7.

Since then, the team which hosts Games 3, 4 and 5 has won just six of the 26 Finals (23 percent). In comparison, the "lower seed" in the conference finals has won 33 percent (18 of 54), using the 2-2-1-1-1 format, since 1985.

In order to win any series, the lower seed -- in The Finals, that would be the team with the middle three games at home -- needs to win at least one game in its opponent's arena. But in the 2-3-2 format, it likely has to do better than that.