that were known to play good defense, and especially in the playoffs.

Not to mention 1998-99 was the lockout-shortened season, the numbers were all odd that year. It was the lowest-scoring year of the '90s by quite a bit, and lower scoring than the few years after it. That season is an outlier in and of itself.

But your claim was that scores were "often in the 70s" in the '90s. If the average is 101.3 for the decade, it couldn't have been too often. That's how averages work. Scores in the 70s were certainly more the exception than the rule.

It would be like me using to the list below as evidence that scoring is down this season. But of course it isn't.