NBA teams are scoring nearly two fewer points per 100 possessions this season compared to last season, despite criticism of game play that believes the league is over-extending on offense.

“I feel like the whole conversation this season has been about how teams have solved the offense, and that’s the NBA’s problem,” Jared Dubin said on RealGM Radio. Dubin has previously written about the trend on Substack. “And it’s just that everyone makes and makes too many threes. And we have to find ways to improve defense. The defense is better this season.”

“The score is down almost two points per 100 possessions. This is the first time in a long time that it has fallen, at least by a significant amount. That’s a pretty big difference year-over-year if you go up or down two points per 100 possessions. In general, offenses do get a little better over the course of a season, but the two full points per 100 possessions increase from last season’s level shows the kind of improvement we’ve seen from year to year in some seasons.

“We also saw some of the best defenses in recent memory.”

Dubin added that the Oklahoma City Thunder are among the best in NBA history when compared to league averages.