The Golden State Warriors made easy work of the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, winning by a ridiculous 41 points to take a 2-1 series lead. It was the largest margin of victory ever for the Warriors in the playoffs, which is impressive given the franchise's history.
This is the largest margin of victory in a playoff game in @warriors history https://t.co/UvEqfXmJLF pic.twitter.com/NCT2SfdpNx
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) May 21, 2018
In addition to making Warriors franchise history, the blowout win also continued a trend in the conference finals. We're through six games now, three in each conference, and the lowest margin of victory has been 13 points. That was how much the Warriors won by in Game 1, and it's how much the Celtics won by in Game 2.
Conference Finals Margin of Victory
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) May 21, 2018
Cavs vs. Celtics
Game 1: Boston wins by 25
Game 2: Boston wins by 13
Game 3: Cleveland wins by 30
Warriors vs. Rockets
Game 1: Golden State wins by 13
Game 2: Houston wins by 22
Game 3: Golden State wins by 41
The lack of intrigue has understandably been a little disappointing. More than a few commentators on Twitter have voiced their frustration.
Not sure what's worse: The wait between these conference finals games. Or the games themselves, from a competitive/outcome standpoint.
— Michael Wallace (@MyMikeCheck) May 21, 2018
Enjoy seeing great players and teams, but looking forward to actually needing to watch a fourth quarter again someday.
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) May 21, 2018
Unfortunately, there just isn't much that can be done about this. The league can't mandate that games be close in the fourth quarter; sometimes there's just a lot of blowouts. Hopefully, though, that will change moving forward. It would certainly be more fun.