There’s no place like home.

Dorothy said it three times to return home from the Land of Oz, and the Utah Jazz say it every time they step out onto the court at EnergySolutions Arena this season where they currently boast the best home record in the NBA at an astonishing 31-4 mark.

But Jazz dominance on its home court is not a new thing.

In fact, since the arrival of the Jazz to Salt Lake City in the 1979-80 season, only four seasons have seen a sub-.500 record at home.  Including the league best 31-4 home record this season, the Jazz have recorded an exceptional 834-333 record in the last 29 seasons in Salt Lake City and Jazz coach Jerry Sloan knows the advantage the Jazz have on their opponents at EnergySolutions Arena.

“If there would be an advantage I would have to say our fans, our fans have been terrific,” Sloan said.  “You go around the league and look at teams and there aren’t a lot of people in the stands and that can be tough at times.  Our guys have kind of relished the idea of having the fans behind them.”

The Jazz success on their home court led to an 19-game home winning streak this season, a streak that has only seen the Jazz lose once in the 2008 calendar year.

The record of 19 consecutive home victories has occurred twice in the history of the Jazz, during the 1989-90 season and most recently in the 1995-96 season when “Stockton to Malone” was at its peak and “Hornacek from the corner” was as common as a “Hot” Rod Hundley’s “You gotta love it baby!”

Today the names have changed, but the toughness of the team and the arena remain the same. The 1995-96 record-setting team finished the season with a record of 55-27, including a 34-7 record on their home court.  Just as impressive was the team’s ability to compete on the road, finishing above .500 (21-20) as the visiting team, something no Jazz team has done in the last six seasons.

Kyle Korver has witnessed the impact of the Jazz crowd from both sides.

“The biggest difference between that team (1995-96) and this team is that that team was a little better road team,” Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson said.  “This team, we don’t do as well on the road, but we are almost unbeatable at home.”

Johnson gives some credit of the success of the Jazz at home to the dedicated fans who pack EnergySolutions Arena every game night.

“The fans certainly give you a lot of support and I think it helps the younger players and the role players who come off the bench,” Johnson added.  “They are better at home than they are on the road.”

As Jazz opponents will tell you, a main reason for the Jazz success at their home arena are the rabid Utah fans. When the game is close, the Jazz draw energy and momentum from the packed arena.

“We have the best crowd in the league; they do such a great job for us,” Jazz center Mehmet Okur said.  “They come out there night in and night out, they support us and we really like to play in front of our crowd.”

In a survey conducted among 242 NBA players across the league, Sports Illustrated found that EnergySolutions Arena was seen as the toughest arena to play in as an opponent.  Nearly 20-percent of those surveyed said the Jazz home court was the most intimidating gym in the league. 

Kyle Korver, who joined Utah mid-season from the Philadelphia 76ers, has seen the arena from an opponent’s view and knows the intimidation factor that comes from running out of the visitor’s tunnel in Salt Lake City.

“I know playing on different teams in years past, coming here you always knew that the crowd was going to be into it, and that the crowd was going to be a factor,” Korver said.  “Now that I do play from the other side, it is a factor and it helps a lot.”

The Jazz recorded one sellout game in attendance in their first season in Salt Lake City and have since sold out more than 600 home games.

“(The fans) are awfully loud. They really like their team and they are into the game,” Johnson added.  “You go some places where the fans just kind of sit back and then in the fourth quarter they get into the game. But our fans are into the game, if we give them something to cheer about at all they are ready to go.”