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What is currently going on in the NBA? This may be the most boring NBA playoffs in recent memory. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors have managed to sweep both of their first round series’. All signs point to each of those teams making it all the way to the NBA finals without losing a game. The real issue though is why have there been so many blowouts in this round. For the sake of this article a blowout is a win by 20 or more points. In the second round of the playoffs, there have been 19 games played and 9 of them were blowouts. That means that almost half of the games played in the second round of the playoffs have been a win by 20 points or more. There were also some games that were pretty close to the blowout definition that easily could have made the list too if we dropped a blowout down to 15 points or more.
What is really going on here? Well the NBA has two super teams and that definitely plays a factor into the blowouts. When teams are filled with superstars and they go against teams that do not have players on the same level that can lead to blowouts. For instance the second round saw the Cleveland Cavaliers vs the Toronto Raptors. Raptors star DeMar DeRozan jokingly offered $100 to anyone that could stop LeBron James. The fact that one of the better players in the NBA is making a joke like that shows how good LeBron James is. DeRozan is a very good NBA player, but him and the Raptors looked lost out there against the Cavaliers.
There is also the idea that defense is not that important to modern day NBA players. When kids are growing up they focus on shooting, dribbling and passing. Those are the main parts of the game that coaches preach. Unfortunately, there is no glamour in being a stellar defensive player. You don’t necessarily become a star when you are a Bruce Bowen type athlete. Those players are necessary though. If you look around at all the kids growing up they all wear LeBron James or Stephen Curry jerseys. James is an elite defender, but kids enjoy him as a player because he can score. Curry is not an elite defender, but he is considered one of the best players in the NBA. The point is that most players coming into the NBA these days focus on scoring compared to defense. Scoring is fun to watch, but at the same time that is how games get a little out of hand. When teams go on these scoring runs and the other team cannot stop them that is when the games get boring. Most of the games this round you can watch the first half and know what will happen at the end of the game.
There is no real rhyme or reason why there have been so many blowouts during this round of the playoffs. The saving grace is that NBA fans are all but certain to have an entertaining NBA Final. If that matchup does come true and is everything we ever hoped for then no one will remember the rest of the playoffs. The blowouts will not matter anymore because the fans will finally have the basketball they want to watch and deserve.