Is 10 points a rout?

AP referred to the Utah's win over Denver as a "rout." The Jazz won by 10.

I really don't think of a 10-point win in basketball as a rout. Does anybody else?

 

No, it's not. Although I'd say 15 points would be.

 

Considering the Jazz were up 23 late in the third quarter, yes this was a rout.
The final score in not always indicative of the game.

EDIT: To fix that biggest lead was 23, not 30 ... but still a rout

 

Methinks the AP writer already had that part of the story written before the fourth quarter and never thought to change it.

 

Game wasn't near as close as the score would indicate, which the writer should have noted for clarity.

 

Yes, but that wasn't explained in the capsule. Under normal circumstances, I don't consider a 10-point victory a rout.

 

At my previous paper, one of our HS football teams lost by 19, and I wrote "rout" in the headline. The AD called and complained that I called it a "rout." Typically annoying self-esteem crap. So it was close for three quarters and the other team pulled away. It was still a rout.

But to answer the original question, 10 points in basketball isn't a rout.

 

I thought this thread was about a high school game and parents bitching about it.

 

I can top that. A few years ago, I wrote for a weekly an advance about a men's hoops team in a low-level D-I conference. Called one of the upcoming opponents a bottom-feeder because it was in dead last fucking place. Well, the coach of the bottom-feeding team was from the area, and his dad still lived here. Got a two-page letter from daddy tearing me a new asshole because I'd called his son's team a bottom-feeder and telling me I didn't know anything about the league I was covering. I wrote back that his son's team was in last place so I was accurate in calling them a bottom-feeder. I also noted that I'd followed the league for more than a decade as a fan and writer, so I took great offense to the inference I didn't know what I was doing.

This guy was a big wig in the community, so I let my editor look at the letter before I sent it off. She looked at it and said you should change this, this, this, this and where you called him that. So I never sent it. Still wish I had. All I can do now is root against sonny's team, and you can bet I was the only guy outside the state of Connecticut who wanted UConn to win its first round game last March.

 

Yeah. I mean, Jesus AP, what is wrong with "beat"?

 

A one-point game turning into 10, no.
A 23-point game turning into 10, yes.
Depends whether its coming or going.

 

So with that logic, if a team is leading by three points through three quarters then wins by 23 it's a close game, right?
You go with the final score. In this case, use "beat" then explain that one team was leading by 23 before the other closed the gap.