NBA Power Rankings: Milwaukee Bucks at front of blowout line in Week 7

It was an abnormally lopsided week for the NBA in Week 7, with the Milwaukee Bucks posting 3 of the 13 wins by at least 20 points over the last 7 days.

It’s been the working philosophy for years that in the NBA, everyone makes a run.

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The rationale behind that phrase is simple; no lead should ever be considered completely safe until a team literally just doesn’t have enough possessions remaining to make a comeback.

But last week in the NBA, the operating principle was that everyone makes a run … unless they just don’t.

Last season, 18.3 percent of the league’s 1,230 regular-season games were decided by 20 points or more, with the Utah Jazz leading the pack with 19 such victories.

But while blowouts haven’t been the norm over the last seven days in the NBA, they haven’t been what could be characterized as rare.

In the last week, there were 15 games decided by 20 points or more. There were 56 games played in the NBA over that period, so more than one in four — 26.8 percent — of the games played last week ended in blowouts.

There was at least one such lopsided game every day over the last seven — three on Dec. 1, two on Monday, three on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, one on Thursday, two on Friday and two more Saturday.

The Milwaukee Bucks led the party, going 3-0 on the week with every one of those wins being by more than 20. The Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, LA Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers each had two such victories. The others were posted by the Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.

Even with the outburst, the NBA is only posting blowouts at a 16.8 percent rate (59 in 352 games thus far), which is solidly behind last season’s pace.

The most likely answer is that last week was just one of those things that appears to be significant when you do the math, but was likely nothing but an outlier.

But those lopsided decisions can make for some interesting material when debating the NBA Power Rankings, which begin …. now.

Last week: Beat Golden State 104-79 Monday, lost to Brooklyn 130-118 Wednesday

This week: Sunday at Charlotte, Tuesday at Miami, Wednesday at Chicago, Friday vs. Indiana

The week started well for the Atlanta Hawks, as they were able to break their 10-game losing streak by pummeling the visiting Warriors. But the two-game homestand ended with a split after the Nets hung 130 points on Atlanta’s beleagured defense. It was the fourth time in just 22 games this season the Hawks have allowed at least 130 points.

Atlanta is 28th in the NBA in defensive rating, allowing 113.9 points per 100 possessions. The skid is taking some of the shine off the play of second-year guard Trae Young, who lit up the Nets for 39 points on Wednesday while also dishing 10 assists. Young scored 63 points with 17 assists (and 13 turnovers) in two games last week, shooting 54.8 percent overall and 7-for-15 from deep.