Interesting. So, blowouts were definitely on the rise post Sam Hinkie and tanking as an open tactic. But, it could be the rise of the 3-pointer. I guess to determine if tanking is more the culprit or if it’s the 3, you’d have to see if the increase of 20-point+ losses is concentrated in the bottom few teams or if it was spread more randomly, right?
There were big blowouts yesterday. This has me wondering - have blowouts increased in the “tanking” era? The complaints about tanking are, at root, that the product is worse due to less competition. But does that bear out? Have blow-outs increased and is that increase reflected in the same bad teams getting blown out more regularly through a season? Is there an era in NBA history with more blow outs or bigger blow outs?
I guess it could depend on how you define "blowout," but let's go with 20 points. This season, 14.7% of all games have been decided by 20 or more points. That's down compared to the past four seasons (in chronological order): 18.3%, 16.7%, 19.0%, and 18.9%. The latter two were the second and third-highest figures in NBA history, respectively. Of course, the leaguewide adoption of a high-variance shot (the 3-pointer) is going to lead to more extreme scoring margins.
Interesting. So, blowouts were definitely on the rise post Sam Hinkie and tanking as an open tactic. But, it could be the rise of the 3-pointer. I guess to determine if tanking is more the culprit or if it’s the 3, you’d have to see if the increase of 20-point+ losses is concentrated in the bottom few teams or if it was spread more randomly, right?
There were big blowouts yesterday. This has me wondering - have blowouts increased in the “tanking” era? The complaints about tanking are, at root, that the product is worse due to less competition. But does that bear out? Have blow-outs increased and is that increase reflected in the same bad teams getting blown out more regularly through a season? Is there an era in NBA history with more blow outs or bigger blow outs?
I guess it could depend on how you define "blowout," but let's go with 20 points. This season, 14.7% of all games have been decided by 20 or more points. That's down compared to the past four seasons (in chronological order): 18.3%, 16.7%, 19.0%, and 18.9%. The latter two were the second and third-highest figures in NBA history, respectively. Of course, the leaguewide adoption of a high-variance shot (the 3-pointer) is going to lead to more extreme scoring margins.