By looks of scores, the NBA is off to a 'strange' start

Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer offered a simple assessment of some of scores that he’s seen in early days of this NBA season.

“It’s strange,” Budenholzer said.

He’s t wrong.

re have been only seven gamedays so far this season, yet NBA has alrey seen 11 games where one team has led by at least 30 points. Bucks have been incredibly topsy-turvy: ir last three games have seen m le Golden State by 43, trail New York by 28 and le Miami by 51 on Tuesday before winning 144-97 in a game where y set an NBA record with 29 3-pointers.

Through 54 games this season, 14 have been decided by at least 20 points — a 26% clip. Last season, including playoffs, 20-point wins happened in about 16.5% of games played.

Why?

Budenholzer points to a three-week training camp where some teams only played two preseason games, body played more than four, and all that comes after an offseason where some teams were off for eight months because y didn't go to last season's restart bubble and ors were off for less than eight weeks before having to get back to work.

“It does seem like re’s been a handful more than rmal,” Budenholzer said of number of lopsided scores so far. “I think shortened offseason, shortened preseason, I keep saying this ... people don’t appreciate everything that goes into NBA preparation and what’s called offseason before training camp even starts.”

It’s t only Bucks who are playing wildly different styles of games in early days of this season.

Los Angeles Clippers trailed Dallas by 57 on Sunday in what became a 51-point loss, n led Minnesota by as many as 31 on Tuesday in a bounce-back win. Brooklyn’s two wins have come by 26 and 28 points; Nets are 0-2 in games decided by five points or fewer. Los Angeles Lakers’ two wins have come by 23 and 36 points; y’re 0-2 in games decided by single digits. Golden State’s two losses have been by 26 and 39 points; Warriors’ two wins have come by a combined 11 points, including a win at Detroit on Tuesday.

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

Im credits: AP