What in the name of Roberto Duran is going on with these NBA Playoffs? We’re down to the final four and yet seemingly nowhere near the end of one team giving up, tapping out and saying “No mas!”
Remember back when the Mavs opened their short playoff run with a 38-point loss to the Thunder? Unfortunately for basketball fans, that doesn’t look so gaudy now.
The Thunder did the same trick to the 73-win Warriors last night, leading by as many as 41 points before winning Game 3 by 28 points.
I love the NBA Playoffs, but these blowouts are just bad for business. Bad for basketball.
Maybe it’s collateral damage from Gregg Popovich’s white-flag strategy of simply resting his players and giving away games during the regular season. “DNP-Rest” is bad for hoops, any time and anywhere.
How bad have the playoffs been so far? There have more 30-point margins (8) than games decided by three points or less (7). Amazing.
You figured the lopsided losses would cease as the quality arose, but you’d be wrong. Through six games of the Conference Finals the average margin is a whopping 21 points. Only Game 1 of the Thunder-Warriors was decided by fewer than 15 points.
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The Mavs’ four losses in the first-round to OKC were by 38, 29, 11 and 14 points. At the time we had no idea it was an omen for the entire NBA.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
