NBA's blowout extravaganza among four such days in playoff history

Sunday was a rare day in NBA history.

That's a great thing for Miami, San Antonio and theLos Angeles Clippers. Not so much for Charlotte, Memphis and Portland.

Of the four games played Sunday in the NBA playoffs, three were blowouts decided by 20 points or more -- the Heat's123-91 win over the Hornets, the Spurs'106-74 victoryvs. the Grizzlies and the Clippers'115-95 defeatof the Trail Blazers.

According to Stats LLC, it was only the fourth such day in NBA playoff history and the first since May 8, 1999, when the New York Knicks beat Miami by 20, Atlanta downed Detroit by 20, and Utah topped Sacramento by 30.

The only other times three blowouts by 20 or more occurred on the same playoff day was twice in 1985, first on April 18 (Denver beating San Antonio by 30, Detroit over New Jersey by 20 and the Lakers downing Phoenix by 28) and then on April 28 (Boston over Detroit by 34, Denver beating San Antonio by 27 and Philadelphia downing Milwaukee by 22).

The average margin of victory across the eight openers of the first round this year was 20.5 points. That's the most lopsided group of playoff openers in NBA history, passing 1995's 19.6.

So far in these playoffs, five of the eight games have been decided by at least 20 points, with Golden State rolling Houston by 26 and Oklahoma City topping Dallas by 38 on Saturday.

It took 51 playoff games last season before five were decided by such a large margin.

There are three Game 2s on Monday: Indiana at Toronto, Dallas at Oklahoma City and Houston at Golden State.

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN Stats & Information was used in this report.