“Rare” you fight in the NBA in the first days of the season

Miami – Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer offered a simple assessment of some of the results he has seen in the early days of this NBA season.

“It’s weird,” Budenholzer said.

Is not wrong.

There have only been seven days of play so far this season, yet the NBA has already seen 11 games in which a team has led by at least 30 points. The Bucks have been incredibly upside down: In their last three games we’ve seen them outscore Golden State by 43, lose to New York by 28, and beat Miami by 51 on Tuesday before winning 144-97 in a game in which they established an NBA record with 29 triples.

Through 54 games this season, 14 have been decided by at least 20 points for 26%. Last season, including the playoffs, there were 20-point wins in roughly 16.5% of the games played.

Why?

Budenholzer points to a three-week training camp where some teams only played two preseason games, no one played more than four, and all of that comes after an offseason in which some teams were absent for eight months because they didn’t make it to the bubble from last season’s restarts, and others were absent less than eight weeks before having to return to work.

“It seems like there have been a handful more than usual”, Budenholzer said about the number of lopsided scores so far. “I think the shortened offseason, shortened preseason, I keep saying this … people don’t appreciate all that goes into preparing for the NBA and what is called the offseason before training camp starts.”

It’s not just the Bucks who are playing wildly different styles of play in the early days of this season.

The Clippers trailed Dallas by 57 on Sunday in what became a 51-point loss, then led Minnesota by up to 31 on Tuesday in a comeback win.

Brooklyn’s two victories have come by 26 and 28 points; the Nets are 0-2 in games decided by five points or less. The two victories for the Lakers have been by 23 and 36 points; they are 0-2 in games decided by single digits. Golden State’s two losses have been by 26 and 39 points; The Warriors’ two wins have added up to 11 points, including a win in Detroit on Tuesday.

“A great feeling,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

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