Mavericks’ lopsided win over Warriors continues NBA’s season of blowouts

After the Mavericks crushed the Warriors in a 133-103 victory on Tuesday night, Golden State guard Stephen Curry found himself at a loss for words. The game was over almost as soon as it started, with Dallas rattling off a 28-0 run in the first half, the second-longest scoring run by an NBA team in the past 20 seasons, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

When asked whether he had experienced a similar run over the course of his career, Curry, who has been part of some of the most dominant teams in league history, couldn’t come up with an answer.

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“I was trying to think if we had done it to anybody before,” Curry said. “Nah. … It’s the perfect storm of literally everything going their way, whether they caused it or not. It’s a tough one.”

Going nearly 10 minutes without one team scoring is a wild outlier for an NBA game. A massive blowout, though? That’s been a regular occurrence throughout the 2020-21 season.

The average margin of victory this season is the second-highest in NBA history, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The Warriors alone have now lost games by 53, 39, 31, 30, 26, 26, 26, 25, 22, 22 and 21. 

As Sports Illustrated’s Chris Herring noted earlier this month, more than 20 percent of games since the All-Star break have been decided by 20 points or more. That is also the second-highest mark in league history.

Some of the usual culprits have affected competitiveness. Lottery teams are focusing on development rather than chasing playoff spots, and others are dealing with injuries. There have been COVID-19 issues along the way as well, and the condensed schedule has contributed to rough outings, particularly on back-to-back sets.

Put all of those elements together, and you’ve got the Year of the Blowout. Let’s hope this trend doesn’t carry over into the postseason.