season_year	reg_pts	po_pts	diff
2025-26	115.6	106.5	9.1
1970-71	112.4	103.5	8.9
2023-24	114.2	105.6	8.6
1980-81	108.1	100.3	7.8
1968-69	112.3	104.5	7.8
1973-74	105.7	98.1	7.6
1993-94	101.5	94.0	7.5
1959-60	115.3	109.1	6.3
1961-62	118.8	112.6	6.2

9veritas

363 | 7 hours ago

Pistons and Magic are skewing the stat smh

RCA1202 | Thunder

155 | 7 hours ago

Don’t forget Houston

KarrotMovies | LAL

81 | 6 hours ago

Lakers too lowkey. No Luka and AR had us averaging barely a 100 per game

ShadowOutOfTime | Lakers

41 | 5 hours ago

Half the teams in the playoffs are skewing the average damn

NotUpForDebate11 | Lakers

6 | 4 hours ago

Minnesota has like 3 main scorers out too

Statalyzer

2 | 4 hours ago

But also helped you keep the Rockets’ point total down, helping the statistic twice.

iamcorocmai | Lakers

34 | 6 hours ago

Not to mention the Celtics

JigglyBush | Timberwolves

26 | 6 hours ago

Denver too, went from over 122 to 105.5 ppg

AutographedSnorkel | Rockets

6 | 4 hours ago

LMAO, the Rocketa brought down the average by at least 5 points with that dumpster fire game 6

PossessionDue9381 | Hawks

4 | 4 hours ago

Damn after the Hawks tried so hard to bring it up

YerrrKnicks | Knicks

3 | 3 hours ago

Same with that one Cavs v Raptors game.

Striking-Medium2360 | Thunder

303 | 7 hours ago

I’m here for it. We got some mid 2000’s scores lol.

Majomember420 | Lakers

93 | 7 hours ago

Very refreshing.

In RS I rather watch a fuck ton of buckets, but in PO, it is sometimes so good to see teams struggle for a point.

livefreeordont | 76ers

18 | 3 hours ago

I think 100-105 point regular seasons and 95-100 point playoffs are peak basketball

BlueHundred | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

Some of these struggles are extra ugly though.

adammoon111 | San Diego Rockets

8 | 4 hours ago

I like it but my only concern is the amount of injuries we‘ve seen just in the first round. The change can‘t be that drastic, they‘ve been playing with one whistle the entire year then face a completely different one.

livefreeordont | 76ers

4 | 3 hours ago

A lot of them are soft tissue injuries. The regular season is just too fast and spread out

afjecj | Magic

2 | 4 hours ago

We got the mid 2000s shooting to match smh

TeamRAF19 | Pistons

124 | 7 hours ago

Because the death of defense is overrated by loud people who insist that defense is not played in the NBA anymore.

icewill36

50 | 7 hours ago

anytime someone says they don’t play defense I know they are a casual and don’t bother to engage them in NBA discussion.

PlateForeign8738

8 | 5 hours ago

I do think NBA players get to play more defense in the playoffs, the regular season is just such a slog that it appears teams dont care about defense. The casuals just see a couple of games, and the whistle and effort can vary wildy night to night.

Kindarelevanttoo

2 | 5 hours ago

Yeah the “playoff whistle” heavily favors the defense. When the offensive player in the regular season can already get away with most pushoffs or just running into the stationary defensive player to get a whistle, there really isn’t anything else that the refs can swallow the whistle for in the playoffs.

But the defensive side can play much more physical defense and the refs let it go because of the “playoff whistle”.

Personally, I hate the change in style for playoff refereeing in any sport. A foul is a foul, whether it’s the first game of the season or game 7 in the finals, it should all be the same. The rulebook doesn’t have a rule that says, “this is a foul, except in the playoffs”.

But at least the NBA playoff whistle favors defense, so that’s something at least.

PlateForeign8738

1 | 5 hours ago

Yeah the problem is the defensive whistle leads to fighting (over a much to long 82 games schedule) and the NBA seems to want to eliminate all fighting.

The defensive whistle is what is the best product, hands down. Its a shame we only get it for a short burst.

BaullahBaullah87

23 | 7 hours ago

I think if folks were saying that, they should have said its much HARDER to play defense nowadays w rule interpretations and shifts in whats allowed defensively on top of spread offenses etc. Alot of teams in the reg season play “no defense” but in the playoffs things always ratchet up

TeamRAF19 | Pistons

32 | 7 hours ago

The top teams in the regular season were all also the top defenses. OKC, Pistons, and Spurs were top three.

Mg29reaper | Celtics

13 | 7 hours ago

Celtics were 4th and 4th in defense

BaullahBaullah87

1 | an hour ago

Yes, and those are the best teams lol not in my consideration of “alot of teams” that are bad at defense

TeamRAF19 | Pistons

1 | an hour ago

And of course the best teams are the ones in the playoffs. So one should not be surprised that drfense is played in these playoffs.

BaullahBaullah87

1 | an hour ago

Yes? I think we are in agreement)

TeamRAF19 | Pistons

1 | 14 minutes ago

Shakes hands

BomberManeuver

6 | 7 hours ago

I think they have just figured out how to counter 3 pt shooting now. For a while there it was meta to switch bigs on screens which allowed more 3 pt shots. They basically all run drop and force the shooter off of the line getting more mid-range shots. Very few players are efficient with those shots.

ShotgunStyles | Kings

8 | 7 hours ago

How much of it is good defense and how much of it is horrible offense? It was bound to happen with bricklayers like the Rockets and Magic making it into the 1st round and they certainly lived up to their regular season reputation.

Careless-Journalist7 | Wizards

8 | 7 hours ago

Those teams were specifically designed to have physical, defensive rosters bc that’s the league meta. You could also add Detroit, Portland, Toronto, and Minnesota.. these are wing-heavy athletic teams that pick up full court and grind out possessions. 3pt shooting is secondary.

Everyone fell in love with the Charlotte Hornets and their pretty offense, those guys played Orlando in the play-in and got bullied off the court by 30. You need physicality and size right now, it gives you an advantage in winning the possession battle

DeaseanPrince | Bulls

5 | 6 hours ago

The OKC effect. Less 3s and more physical defense.

Strugl33r

-1 | 7 hours ago

Rockets and Magic would average 300 pts in the 90s

adammoon111 | San Diego Rockets

4 | 4 hours ago

Our spacing was better in 95 than in this first round

TCTCTCTCTCTC7

7 | 6 hours ago

Because the death of defense is overrated by loud people who insist that defense is not played in the NBA anymore.

An alternative explanation is that those loud people were precisely right during the regular season, and no one played any defense.

And now we’re observing that when these teams are faced with even the low level of defense allowed by current rules, and with almost no restrictions on offensive players, they struggle to score 100 points in a game.

TeamRAF19 | Pistons

3 | 6 hours ago

Or theae people so not oay attention to teams like Thunder, Pistons, and Sours because if they did, they qould never say that teams played no defense in the regular season.

I watched all the Pistons games..How about you? Can you say with a straight face that they do not play defense in the regular season?

TCTCTCTCTCTC7

-1 | 5 hours ago

I watched all the Oistons games..How about you? Can you say with a straight face that they do not play defense in the regular season?

The Pistons were notorious for playing a sport that more closely resembles American football, or rugby, on that end of the court, so one can say with a straight face that they didn’t play basketball defense this season.

And that’s one of the reasons why they are struggling with Orlando, because in the postseason, a lot more contact is generally allowed, so the regular season advantage that Detroit enjoyed from turning games into wrestling matches has been greatly reduced.

Not coincidentally, Oklahoma City plays largely the same way.

Some_Weekend_6264

2 | 3 hours ago

Damn those goal posts shifted fast. From “no one plays defense” to “the best teams are allowed to play rugby.”

Skinnecott | Heat

3 | 4 hours ago

it’s definitely a refereeing thing. they could just let the post season physicality happen in the regular season but they don’t

RadWalk | Nuggets

3 | 4 hours ago

It’s not in the regular season. Playoff defense is a whole new game.

Billis- | Raptors

1 | 3 hours ago

I’m sure its happening in your series too but if anyone wants to see modern defense watch Cavs Raps tonight. Constant switching and chasing. Lots of breakdowns too so it’s far from perfect

x_TDeck_x | Spurs

1 | 3 hours ago

Cmon. This is not the defense we see in the regular season. We get a few scattered games with it but the vast majority of the time its like 80% effort

Its the entire reason this thread exists

TeamRAF19 | Pistons

2 | an hour ago

I watched all the Pistons games. They limited the Hornets to 10 pts in their kast 4th quarter meeting. This is normal for teams li.ke them

nio151 | Warriors

0 | 7 hours ago

Also because some of the biggest scorers are injured this post season lol

Diorkingreturnss

112 | 7 hours ago

Lot of stars are hurt though KD, luka probably add alot to that scoring

DeepCleaner42

61 | 7 hours ago

Houston put up 94 when KD played

KarrotMovies | LAL

55 | 6 hours ago

Juggernaut defense Los Angeles Lakers

gmwdim | Pistons

8 | 4 hours ago

I mean Luka being out probably helps your defense, so…

gomeziman | Vancouver Grizzlies

-3 | 5 hours ago

Good thing no one is allowed to play if theyre hurt

twovles31

85 | 7 hours ago

A lot of teams missing their threes. A little more physicality in the playoffs and all the bumps add up throughout the game, and all that effort needed on defense takes the lift out of your legs. It’s why those that can shoot the mid range find more success come the playoffs for the most part minus some of those Golden State championship teams.

RedactedAsFugg | Kings

16 | 5 hours ago

Plus playing the same teams over and over allows the defense to adjust to the offense

NotUpForDebate11 | Lakers

6 | 4 hours ago

Luka, reaves, durant, jdub, ant, divencenzo, ayo, wemby, tatum, franz, embiid, ingram, and im probably missing more are all fairly high scoring players that have missed games due to recent injuries and their backups are less offensively gifted

SugarFreeCummiBears

1 | 4 hours ago

Even Livingston and some other Warriors could get a few inside buckets when need be

Billis- | Raptors

2 | 3 hours ago

Turns out the go-to defense against high volume threes is extremely fast, frantic movement. Guys are losing their legs by the 4th because they are made to run all day on both ends

Obi_Wan_KeBogi | Kings

61 | 7 hours ago

It’s because of great defense but also I can’t remember so many teams lacking reliable playmaking. The 3 and D shit has gone too far teams have too many of these guys that can’t create offense on their own.

DeaseanPrince | Bulls

14 | 6 hours ago

Yup, Magic, Rockets and Blazers are the bottom 3 offenses and none have even an average point guard.

Teams hate small scoring point guards until their team needs a bucket. Defense is nice but if you can’t convert on the other end you don’t win games and that’s we’re seeing right now. Athletic teams who get to run all night in the regular season being slowed down in the half court and have no offensive alternative.

adammoon111 | San Diego Rockets

8 | 4 hours ago

Jrue holiday is average imo

legend023 | Pelicans

37 | 7 hours ago

Feels like scoring peaked in like 2020 and the three spamming just isn’t as effective anymore

Locksmith1778

77 | 7 hours ago

Defenses have got a lot better with intentionally funnelling 3PAs to the people they want them shooting because they aren’t effective, especially above the break ones. Like Timberwolves were happy for Jokic and Braun to shoot 3s and Spurs were happy for Clingan and Camara to shoot 3s.

DJ_Red_Lantern | 76ers

21 | 5 hours ago

Yep that is the go to strategy in playoffs these days. A player losing their 3 point shot for a series can completely flip the result of a series because of it.

adammoon111 | San Diego Rockets

3 | 4 hours ago

The Harrison Barnes effect

DrHuxleyy | Mavericks

9 | 5 hours ago

This is a fascinating evolution of defense. I catch some teams I watch always leaving a 3 open and get frustrated, but I didn’t consider that it’s purposeful. It’s almost like a form of hack-a-shaq, defense by relying on forcing to poor offense. Def gonna keep an eye out for it the rest of these playoffs.

KarrotMovies | LAL

5 | 5 hours ago

Gone are the days of having two really bad shooters in your starting 5. I feel like 4 guys have to be at least respectable from 3

YSLAnunoby | Raptors

6 | 4 hours ago

It’s also harder to have multiple guys who can’t dribble or provide any rim pressure compared to before. Your 3 and D guys gotta be able to pump and drive off a closeout and at least make the read to pass or shoot. It’s coincided with more 4s being wing 4s today where they are better ball handlers and creators from the perimeter. Even if someone like OG can’t dribble well he’s a threat off cut/lob and to drive on dudes when given the opportunity

KarrotMovies | LAL

1 | 15 minutes ago

Yeah, even someone like Steph is so much easier to scheme around if he wasn’t also so efficient around the rim and from mid range

livefreeordont | 76ers

2 | 3 hours ago

It’s also bad to have 2 guys who can barely do anything on offense like Celtics with Queta and Hauser or Detroit with Duren, Thompson, and Robinson

No-Owl-6246 | Lakers

2 | 4 hours ago

Defenses are also crashing hard on the guys that do shoot 3s well. Which is then opening up the 2, which the good teams are capitalizing on and the bad teams aren’t.

TCTCTCTCTCTC7

14 | 6 hours ago

Feels like scoring peaked in like 2020 and the three spamming just isn’t as effective anymore

Accuracy from the arc peaked in 2009.

22 teams were more efficient inside the arc this season, than bombing away from outside.

M1ctlan

10 | 6 hours ago

Really does seem like the era of small ball and jacking 3s is over. The only teams still clinging to it are the Celtics and Warriors.

asdflmaopfftxd

11 | 5 hours ago

Hornets if you wanna count them. They had better playoff chances than the warriors to me before the play in

superchump123

2 | 4 hours ago

I’d argue this is the issue with the Cavs too. They never try to go get an easy bucket when they’re not shooting well. The Harden to big and big to big games could be so strong but they just don’t use it anymore.

YSLAnunoby | Raptors

2 | 4 hours ago

Feel like the Thunder are still capable of doing it cuz they got a collection of wings built like fire hydrants in addition to Chet and Hartenstein manning the middle.

I also think Raptors Cavs series is an interesting small ball one as Cavs have bigger bigs but they aren’t necessarily stronger than the Raptor front court when they run CMB and Scottie as the ⁴⁄₅ combo while one of the Cavs issues is that they are really lacking physicality on the wing to put on Scottie CMB and RJ even without BI currently. So you have a series where the difference is in the “middle” with 6’7-6’8 bigs and RJ as a 6’6 wing bully where you get Scottie or CMB taking on Harden while the gamble is basically that for his size Allen can’t really out muscle RJ when jostling for position. So I would say Rap Cavs series is still very much defined by small ball because Scottie and CMB have much in common with Dray at C lines the warriors would run

SugarFreeCummiBears

2 | 4 hours ago

I feel the strategy still works but needs some wiggle room for flexibility. You need a “break in case of emergency” button which could work with versatile scorers like Tatum but Celtics refused to try anything else when shots werent falling.

eggwhite0 | Knicks

19 | 7 hours ago

Why doesn’t every team just score 140? Are they dumb?

Bronn__Swanson | Knicks

3 | 5 hours ago

They hate us cause they ain’t us

CountFew6186 | Knicks

1 | 7 hours ago

Yeah, but we also balanced that out with defense.

Tiggated

20 | 7 hours ago

This is really interesting to see. The games have slowed down tremendously and then you see teams like the hawks and rockets struggle IMMENSELY without a real half court playmaker. We saw someone like Trae young get traded for scraps, i think we will see a rebound for coveting half court creators

d4videnk0 | Lakers

12 | 7 hours ago

Players like Kyle Lowry probably wish they were 10 years younger. Like this would be the best case scenario for people like him.

Nobody7713 | Raptors

6 | 7 hours ago

That’s why the Rockets overpaid for VanVleet, he’s exactly that kind of player (Kyle Lowry’s mentee for years). He just happened to get hurt.

livefreeordont | 76ers

1 | 3 hours ago

VanVleet does not play much like Lowry. VanVleet is a shoot first guy

Nobody7713 | Raptors

1 | 3 hours ago

It depends on his team construction. FVV’s a shoot first guy when his team doesn’t have shooters, but he’s a very capable facilitator.

livefreeordont | 76ers

1 | 3 hours ago

Even in Toronto FVV was a shoot first guy

ArKadeFlre | Lakers

9 | 6 hours ago

Disagree on Trae Young. What we’re seeing with top teams is that two-way impact at every position is more important than ever. One way players are being abused damn near every play, and it’s a lot more common for defensive slanted players to develop an offensive game. Meanwhile, even players with All-Time offensive impact can sometimes be problematic if their defense is lacking

Anxious_Subject_2604

0 | 7 hours ago

It’s simple. Real defense gets played when the numbers on your next contract are on the line. Playoffs are the ultimate stage for that.

InsideProblem2625

8 | 7 hours ago

It’s a combination of offensive dynamos being hurt across the board and defense is super tight right now. They are calling really strange fouls

Not_Different | Hornets

8 | 7 hours ago

One of the things I dislike most about the NBA is how it becomes a totally different sport in the playoffs. I prefer physical play with fewer whistles, just call it like that all year

lffl90

6 | 5 hours ago

It was never this drastic even going back just 10 or so years to the mid 2010s. The criticisms of the regular season in the NBA this decade are legit

lebronjamesgoat1 | Lakers

5 | 4 hours ago

Yup. Go to YouTube and watch any 2010-11 Bulls regular season game and you’ll see them bust their ass off on defense and be physical on a random January game

ArrowInBlack

5 | 7 hours ago

Magic and pistons carried

Function_Fighter

5 | 7 hours ago

bricking 3s all day

ResponsibleWater1697 | Pacers

5 | 7 hours ago

Sorry, guys. It’s all our fault.

an_also | Raptors

4 | 7 hours ago

I like it

fwoompf | Pistons

3 | 7 hours ago

You’re welcome!

pistons fan

RealPrinceJay |

2 | 7 hours ago

Here’s what I wonder

I know effort is higher changing the way the game is played, but it’s also a product of ref choices as well

If everyone loves and prefers this playoff basketball, why wouldn’t we ref like it all year?

Adorable-Bike-9689

2 | 4 hours ago

Good. Stop inflating scores with free theows whenever stars miss shots

PM_ME_UR_PICS_PLS | Mavericks

1 | 7 hours ago

So many teams just don’t care about the regular season any more so it makes sense if the games turn into an allstar game of sorts.

So many times I’d see the Wizards or someone giving up 150+ pts in regulation

aeiou-y | Mavericks

1 | 7 hours ago

Thanks Orlando

heat_fan_ | Raptors

1 | 7 hours ago

Probably helps with teams playing better Defense too

laziest-coder-ever

1 | 7 hours ago

Time to bet the under

Szobortz | Mavericks

1 | 7 hours ago

resorting to post other people’s stats now that he has no basketball sources lmao

No_Statistician9289 | 76ers

1 | 6 hours ago

All 7 of our games the loser scored 100 or less

sorendiz | HOU

1 | 6 hours ago

we’ll take credit for this, along with the magic

Impressive-Potato

1 | 5 hours ago

Analytics say following the Warriors formula works even though teams don’t have a Steph Curry.

RemyGee | Lakers

1 | 4 hours ago

Refs been letting teams play more physical defense like the 90s again. Love to see it.

29671 | Hornets

1 | 4 hours ago

Refs have been letting them play way more, as usual. So much physicality.

JaderMcDanersStan | Timberwolves

1 | 4 hours ago

I am LOVING the defense

swizznastic | Spurs

1 | 4 hours ago

Its the most physical playoffs have been in the past 10 years. Completely turned the precedent set in the regular season upside down. Thats why we’re seeing so many upsets and ugly bouts, skill based teams that expected to play smaller players or shoot their way out of rounds got blindsided. I prefer them to keep if this way during the regular season, but its just impossible for 82 games.

InSearchOfGoodPun | Heat

1 | 3 hours ago

I hate how teams and players get slandered so hard for “choking” and “not being able to shoot” in the playoffs instead of their opponents’ getting praised for playing great defense. Considering that everyone is playing harder and cares more in the playoffs, what’s more likely: that players forgot how to shoot, or that the defense is just better?

Phelinaar

1 | an hour ago

People see that the PPG is still very high, right? It’s just that it was absurdly high in the regular season.

lunes_azul | Trail Blazers

1 | an hour ago

Good

bhris_cratt321

-1 | 6 hours ago

3pt shooting hasn’t been this bad in the playoffs since 2012. Couple that with certain matchups that exacerbate bad offense (Lakers/Rockets, Pistons/Magic), and you get low scoring numbers.

No-Alternative2897

1 | 4 hours ago

Lakers offense isnt bad at all even without Luka and Reaves. Its effecient (4th in FG and 2nd in 3pt%) albeit slow(halfcourt scoring) and credit rocket for having really good D and rebounding, gaining possessions via Oreb and steals.

bhris_cratt321

1 | 4 hours ago

It’s very efficient from a shooting perspective, but losing the possession battle by a mile causes it to be a well below-average offense.

[Marc Stein] Scoring in the NBA playoffs is on pace for its most dramatic drop ever — down 9.1 PPG entering the final day of Round 1