What about Home Court Advantage?

Can somebody please tell me what is going on in the NBA right now? In the second round alone, the home team is 20 and 1. Is that even statistically possible when you consider that a basketball hoop is still 10 feet high no matter where you play? Seriously, what gives? In the series between the defending champion Spurs and the young and exciting New Orleans Hornets, the home team has won by an average margin of18 points per game. Think about that for a second. One day, the Hornets are just drilling San Antonio, making them look old and ready for retirement. However, switch gyms and the Spurs are making the Hornets look young and inexperienced. In a span of only 2 days, how can one team go from winning by 22 points and then losing by 19 with the only difference being the location of the game? I have heard all the explanations: the rims are different, the shooting backdrops are different, God likes home teams more, the refs are paid to fix games, its psychological, players like to sleep in their own bed, etc etc. Who really knows what it is but the home court advantage phenomenon is definitely alive and kicking. Even I have never lost a one-on-one game in my backyard (yes, the same backyard court I used to posterize my parents when i was younger, see: White Guys Love Assists). So it got me to thinking, does this home court advantage work in other areas of life besides sports?

Getting chicks: No, I had to fly half way around the world to get a gosh damn lady friend.
Having money: Um, not exactly, I'm one day shy of 29 and I'm back in school trying to get a Master's degree in Kinesiology because I'm so unemployable.

Wait, what other areas of life are there besides sports, girls, and trying to make a buck or two? I guess religion but based on the amount of missionaries my church sends out each month I'm guessing even they do better away from home. So really the home court advantage only applies to sports but considering sports is 25% of the pie and I spend nearly 90% of my time on that piece of pie, I think Ben Franklin misspoke when he said, "the only things certain in life are death and taxes." What about the home court advantage Ben?