Sunday was a truly rare day in NBA history.
That’s a great thing for Miami, San Antonio and Los Angeles Clippers. Not so much for Charlotte, Memphis and Portland.
Of the four games played Sunday in the NBA playoffs, three were blowouts decided by 20 points or more – Miami’s 123-91 win over Charlotte, San Antonio’s 106-74 win over Memphis and the Clippers’ 115-95 win over Portland.
According to STATS, it was only the fourth such day in NBA playoff history and the first since May 8, 1999 (when the New York Knicks beat Miami by 20, Atlanta downed Detroit by 20 and Utah topped Sacramento by 30).
The only other times three blowouts by 20 or more occurred on the same playoff day was twice in 1985, first on April 18 (Denver beating San Antonio by 30, Detroit beating New Jersey by 20 and the Lakers downing Phoenix by 28) and again on April 28 (Boston over Detroit by 34, Denver beating San Antonio by 27 and Philadelphia downing Milwaukee by 22).