We’re officially in the final two-week sprint of the NBA regular season, with fewer than 10 games left for every squad to stake their claim. The betting favorites have essentially shifted entirely toward the Western Conference‘s elite. The reigning champion OKC Thunder are on the verge of joining the Lakers and Warriors as the only franchises to secure the top seed in the West in three consecutive seasons.
Right on their heels, the San Antonio Spurs have been nearly invincible, dropping just two games in the last two months. For the Spurs, this isn’t just about momentum; it’s about finally snapping a six-season playoff drought, the longest in franchise history for a team that previously hadn’t even missed the postseason in back-to-back years.
The 31-0 Blitz: The NBA’s New Unanswered Scoring Record
This season has leaned heavily into the “National Blowout Association” moniker, already surpassing the record for 30-point blowout wins set just a year ago. The latest casualty was the Orlando Magic, who suffered a 139-87 shellacking at the hands of the Toronto Raptors.
This 52-point disaster was the worst loss in Magic history, while for Toronto, it marked their second-largest margin of victory, trailing only their 53-point win over Golden State back in 2021.
However, the final score wasn’t the real headline-it was the historic run that fueled it. The Raptors exploded for a 31-0 unanswered scoring streak that spanned 7 minutes and 47 seconds across the first and second quarters. Since the NBA began tracking play-by-play data in the 1996-97 season, no team has ever gone on a longer run without conceding a single point.
The new top 3 longest unanswered runs in NBA history:
- 31-0: Raptors vs. Magic (March 29, 2026)
- 30-0: Mavericks vs. Thunder (December 2, 2023)
- 29-0: Cavaliers vs. Bucks (December 6, 2009)
NBA Eastern Conference Gridlock
As the playoff lights get brighter, every possession is under the microscope. While Toronto and Orlando made history for different reasons, the rest of the Eastern Conference is in a state of absolute gridlock. The distance between the 5th and 10th seeds is currently a razor-thin 3.5 games. With just 14 days of regular-season basketball remaining, these spots will dictate who faces a single-elimination play-in trap and who gets a guaranteed series.
The general consensus is that the road to a ring goes through Oklahoma City or San Antonio. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine any team pulling off four wins in a seven-game series against the Thunder’s depth or the Spurs’ current white-hot form.
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