Ethan Engellau
Staff Writer
A blowout is when one team is winning by such a drastic margin that it allows the other team little to no chance of coming out with a victory.
In the NBA, blowouts are often defined by a margin of twenty points or more, early in the game, or when a team is leading by a double-digit margin for much of the game. A team can be down twenty points in the second quarter and only lose by six and it still is considered a blowout victory.
As of April 21, we have seen seventeen official playoff games with over half of those games being blowouts.
The Hawks have not been able to keep up with the Heat at all having only won two of the eight quarters they have played so far.
The Raptors gave the 76ers a run for their money in Game 3 but prior to that had not threatened Philadelphia with Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam underperforming, now finding themselves in a 3-0 hole.
The Warriors, with Steph Curry coming off the bench, have run the Nuggets off the court in their first two games, infuriating MVP front-runner Nikola Jokic and causing him to get numerous technical fouls and then ejected in Game 2.
Phoenix versus New Orleans and Memphis versus Minnesota have been very similar in that one team blew the other out in Game 1 with Phoenix and Minnesota coming out with double-digit victories, respectively.
While in Game 2, New Orleans and Memphis dominated in large part, the Pelicans’ victory came with Devin Booker being forced out of the game with a hamstring injury that looks to keep him out at least the next two games of this series.
If you are a casual basketball fan, you are not sticking around to watch these contests. Blowouts are just boring for a viewer that is not a fan of either team that is playing. Teams begin benching their star players to save them for later games in the series, and no one wants to watch meaningless basketball where the third unit of the bench is playing for no value. The one way this is beneficial is it makes us, as viewers, appreciate the close, competitive games a little bit more.
This year we have been gifted with three highly competitive series with the highly anticipated Nets versus Celtics matchup living up to expectations, the Luka-less Mavericks making the Jazz sweat, and the Bulls getting their first playoff win since 2017 against the defending champion Bucks.
The Boston Celtics leads the Brooklyn Nets 2-0 after two incredible, nail-biting victories. Game 1 was led by Jayson Tatum’s 31 points with a solid team effort as Jaylen Brown scored 23 points while Al Horford and Marcus Smart each scored 20. The Celtics took this game on a buzzer-beater spin-layup from Tatum off an inbound pass.
In Game 2, the Nets looked like they would even the series, leading this game by as much as 17 before the Celtics stormed back in the second half to win by seven. The key factor in this series has been the atrocious shooting from Kevin Durant as he is a combined 13 for 41 from the field in the first two games. Teammate Kyrie Irving let the TD Garden boos get in his head in Game 2 as he shot a measly 4 for 13 from the field. What is enticing about this series is the Nets have kept the games close with these terrible performances from their two superstars and Ben Simmons is just over the horizon.
The Luka-less Mavericks could be up 2-0 in this series. After a huge comeback in Game 1, the Mavericks pushed the Jazz to their limits forcing them to squeak out a narrow victory.
In Game 2, Jalen Brunson exploded for 41 points giving Dallas a crucial win that keeps their playoff hopes alive and well for Doncic if he can return in Game 3.
Low scoring basketball is something you rarely see in current-day NBA basketball. Teams score over 100 points these days with ease.
Game 1 of this series was a defensive punching match with a final score of 93-86 in favor of the Bucks. With the exits of Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis assisted by Demar Derozan’s 41 points, the Bulls were able to tie the series in Game 2.
Defending Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is having a stellar series so far averaging 29.5 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 assists but would love to see his right-hand man “Khash Money” on the floor beside him going forward.
These 3 series are saving the NBA Playoffs right now, and I hope we can have some more competitive series going forward.
Categories: Pro Sports, Sports
THE CAROLINIAN 
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