NBA History of Blowouts, New Record in 2011-12?

On December 28th in one of the e-mails my friend Leszczur mentioned “we are going to see a lot of random NBA scores this year” to which I automatically replied “every year there are blowouts” but it immediately got me thinking about them. Will this season actually lead to more blowouts than usual?
What exactly is the usual number? What happened in the previous shortened season?.
I’ve waited a week or so for more data and here we are…

I defined blowout as 15 or more point differential and using all scores in the NBA history from basketball-reference.com I compiled a historical perspective… note that 2012 includes only 125 games played so far.

% of NBA Games ended with 15+ point blowout

Well, in this small but current sample 2011-12 season is literally off the charts in terms of number of blowouts!
But it is early so it should improve… especially when season in 1999 wasn’t extraordinary in this regard at all. So maybe we just have to patiently wait for a better part of the season…

What’s more, the biggest swings happened around the time of big changes in the NBA landscape so it seems to be a pretty good measure of overall [but relative] talent level around the league, no?

Average for all seasons since 1947 is 26,34% and in the last 20 regular seasons it was a similar 26,22%.

That was a league-wide view so let’s switch it to teams’ perspective.
Here are some single-season extremes for games with point differential of 15 or more which resulted in a win:

Team	Season	Won15+	Games	Win%		Team	Season	Won15+	Games
Milwaukee Bucks	1971	37	82	45,12		Cleveland Cavaliers	2011	0	82
Chicago Bulls	1996	35	82	42,68		Portland Trail Blazers	2006	0	82
Chicago Bulls	1997	34	82	41,46		New Orleans Hornets	2005	0	82
New York Knicks	1970	33	82	40,24		Toronto Raptors	2003	0	82
Los Angeles Lakers	1972	33	82	40,24		Los Angeles Clippers	2000	0	82
Boston Celtics	1962	32	80	40,00		Vancouver Grizzlies	1999	0	50
Milwaukee Bucks	1972	32	82	39,02		Vancouver Grizzlies	1996	0	82
Washington Capitols	1947	23	60	38,33		Dallas Mavericks	1993	0	82
Boston Celtics	1986	31	82	37,80		Houston Rockets	1983	0	82
Chicago Bulls	1992	31	82	37,80		Baltimore Bullets	1952	0	66
Seattle SuperSonics	1994	31	82	37,80		Milwaukee Hawks	1952	0	66
Chicago Bulls	1972	30	82	36,59		Providence Steam Rollers	1948	0	48
San Antonio Spurs	2005	30	82	36,59		Pittsburgh Ironmen	1947	0	60
Philadelphia 76ers	1968	29	82	35,37		18 tied with 1 such performance in 82 games
Milwaukee Bucks	1974	29	82	35,37
Milwaukee Bucks	1986	29	82	35,37
Phoenix Suns	1989	29	82	35,37
Phoenix Suns	1990	29	82	35,37
Boston Celtics	1960	26	75	34,67
Los Angeles Lakers	1973	28	82	34,15
Boston Celtics	1980	28	82	34,15
Milwaukee Bucks	1981	28	82	34,15
Portland Trail Blazers	1991	28	82	34,15
Seattle SuperSonics	1995	28	82	34,15

It could be a very crude way to discuss some all-time great teams… if you didn’t notice there’s only one team from last decade so that’s another reason to doubt claims that NBA has a problem with competitive balance…

Here are some single-season extremes for games with point differential of 15 or more which resulted in a loss:

Team	Season	Lost15+	Games	Lost%		Team	Season	Lost15+	Games
Dallas Mavericks	1993	44	82	53,66		Utah Jazz	1997	0	82
Providence Steam Rollers	1948	22	48	45,83		Phoenix Suns	1983	1	82
Los Angeles Clippers	2000	35	82	42,68		Los Angeles Lakers	2009	1	82
Denver Nuggets	1998	35	82	42,68		Chicago Bulls	2011	1	82
Denver Nuggets	1950	25	62	40,32		Portland Trail Blazers	2000	1	82
Philadelphia 76ers	1973	33	82	40,24		Detroit Pistons	2004	1	82
Los Angeles Clippers	1989	33	82	40,24		Boston Celtics	1973	1	82
Cleveland Cavaliers	1971	32	82	39,02		Boston Celtics	2008	1	82
Miami Heat	1989	32	82	39,02		Portland Trail Blazers	1991	1	82
Houston Rockets	1983	31	82	37,80		Boston Celtics	1986	1	82
Los Angeles Clippers	1987	31	82	37,80		Chicago Bulls	1992	1	82
Denver Nuggets	1991	31	82	37,80		Milwaukee Bucks	1972	1	82
Golden State Warriors	2000	31	82	37,80		Los Angeles Lakers	1972	1	82
Los Angeles Clippers	2009	31	82	37,80		Chicago Bulls	1996	1	82
Atlanta Hawks	2005	30	82	36,59		Philadelphia Warriors	1947	1	60
Chicago Packers	1962	29	80	36,25		Miami Heat	1999	1	50
Chicago Bulls	1999	18	50	36,00		San Antonio Spurs	1999	1	50

Wow, Utaz Jazz in 1996-97 was the only team in history which didn’t lose a game by 15 or more points?
I didn’t know that so that’s a great bonus curiosity ;-)