This is not how the NBA typically works. Even when a couple bottom feeders get together for a late-season contest, it’s absurd to even imagine one of the would cough a 23-point first half lead and end up losing by 18. That would be ridiculous. Preposterous. Nonsensical.
And yet.
The way things usually go in the NBA is that when the league’s worst team falls behind by 23 in the first half, they stop competing and start playing for numbers. Sure, sometimes they’ll rally a bit and lose by 15 instead of 30. But they still lose.