Warriors beat the Pelicans by 51, the NBA’s biggest margin this season: 26 of 31 teams that won by 50 in the last 12 seasons finished .500 or better

Golden State beat New Orleans 138-87 at Chase Center on Monday night. The 51-point margin is the largest of the NBA season so far, four points more than Atlanta’s 128-81 win over Charlotte on Oct. 23, and it was the Warriors’ eighth straight win after an 0-3 start.

Wins that lopsided are rare. We went through the Basketball-Reference game logs for every regular season from 2014-15 through 2025-26 and found 31 wins by 50 points or more, about two and a half a season. Here is what those games said about the two teams involved.

EIGHT IN A ROW SOUNDS FANTASTIC 😎 pic.twitter.com/G3jPIVyOtc

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 10, 2026

The numbers that stand out

• The Warriors led 72-43 at halftime and 112-65 after three quarters. Their largest lead was the final margin, 51 points
• Golden State made 50 of 91 shots, 21 of 44 from three, and had 37 assists on those 50 baskets. New Orleans shot 29 of 80, and 8 of 28 from three
• Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski scored 25 each, Curry in 21 minutes. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg had 23 on 8-of-10 shooting, including 4 of 4 from three. No Warriors player logged more than 27 minutes
• It is the Pelicans’ worst loss in the 12-season sample, two points worse than a 153-104 loss at Miami in 2024-25. Their 87 points are also a season low
• For the Warriors it is the second-largest win in the same span, behind a 157-101 win at Portland in 2022-23
• Of the 31 teams that won by 50 or more from 2014-15 through 2025-26, 26 finished at .500 or better, averaging 50.5 wins per 82 games. Of the 31 teams that lost, 22 finished below .500, averaging 30.1 wins

Where 50-point wins come from

These games have become more common. Seven came in 2023-24 alone, and the last three seasons produced 17 of the 31. Most of them also came late in a season, when rotations loosen and some teams are already out of the race. Only four came in the winning team’s first 11 games, which is where the Warriors were on Monday.

Team	Score	Game of season	Final record
2014-15 Mavericks	123-70 vs. 76ers	9th	50-32
2015-16 Warriors	119-69 vs. Grizzlies	4th	73-9
2020-21 Mavericks	124-73 at Clippers	3rd	42-30
2023-24 Celtics	155-104 vs. Pacers	4th	64-18
2026-27 Warriors	138-87 vs. Pelicans	11th	8-3 so far

All four of those teams finished with winning records, and two of them, the 73-win Warriors and the 64-win Celtics, had the league’s best record. The losing side has not always been bad: the 2015-16 Grizzlies went 42-40 and the 2020-21 Clippers went 47-25, so one blowout is not a verdict on the team that lost it.

Season	Wins by 50 or more
2014-15	1
2015-16	2
2016-17	0
2017-18	1
2018-19	2
2019-20	0
2020-21	3
2021-22	4
2022-23	1
2023-24	7
2024-25	5
2025-26	5
2026-27	1 so far

The Warriors and Pelicans now

Golden State is 8-3 and has outscored opponents by 101 points, 9.2 a game, the fourth-best margin in the league. Its eight-game winning streak is the second-longest active run, behind San Antonio’s nine. The Warriors’ last loss came in Phoenix on Oct. 24, when they fell to 0-3.

New Orleans is 4-7 and minus-54 for the season. The Pelicans won four straight in late October and early November and have now lost three in a row, by 6, 16 and 51 points.

This season’s early games have already been unusually one-sided. Four of the first 154 games were decided by 40 points or more, and 14 by 30 or more. Records, margins and league standings are on the WhyNBA standings and stats pages.