Against the background of the coronavirus pandemic, the NBA also has a beating epidemic.
It only remains to assume whether there is a connection.
Games with unequal scores became commonplace in the first three weeks of the NBA. Maybe because there are no fans in the arenas or because the teams are tired of playing without as much rest as they have become accustomed to in recent years. Or maybe the global COVID-19 stress was felt in the players.
It’s probably a combination of all of them.
But the numbers are also staggering. The average point difference at the moment in the NBA is 12.3 points per game, becoming the largest in history.
The number of teams with an advantage of 30 units or more – it happened in 20% – is out of the ordinary, even in an era of fast play and triples.
“This is going to be the craziest season in NBA history,” said Brooklyn coach Steve Nash. “We’ve seen some incredible scores and oddities, so I think we’re going to have to adapt and keep working and it’s going to be essential to learn in games and not in practice.”
Last season, in just 10% of matches, a team had a 30-point advantage.