Injuries and widespread tanking have led to a rash of lopsided games. When the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Dallas Mavericks, 124-94, it officially set a record for blowouts.
Minnesota’s win was the 31st time this season a team had been beaten by 30 or more points, beating the old record of 30 30-point blowouts set last season. The NBA’s new anti-tanking rules can’t come soon enough.
The NBA has been especially uncompetitive late in the season
One day before the Timberwolves blew out the Mavs, the NBA had three games decided by 30 points or more. The Houston Rockets beat the New Orleans Pelicans by 32, the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Wizards by 35 and the Toronto Raptors
embarrassed the Orlando Magic by 52 points.
The Magic are still trying for the playoffs, but too many other teams aren’t. The Wizards have won only once in their last 19 games. The Brooklyn Nets are 3-20 in the last seven weeks, and the Utah Jazz are 3-18.
It’s not just that bad teams are losing games and sitting out good players. It’s that these teams are getting blown out so badly that the games are unwatchable. For a league that’s in the first year of a lucrative media deal with new partners in NBC and Amazon Prime, it’s a rough end to the season.
The degree of tanking this season might be unprecedented
The Mavericks sat two of their starters, Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington, due to injuries against the Timberwolves. They gave big minutes to John Poulakidas, a man who made his pro debut two weeks ago, and Tyler Smith, who had played 28 minutes all season before logging 18 Monday night.
There’s a difference between resting starters and devoting major minutes to players essentially signed off the street. The NBA’s blowout wave is the result.