At some point in the second quarter of a game on Thursday and with the visiting team up by 12 or 13 points, the home team’s play-by-play broadcaster said “Double-digit, first-half leads don’t mean a whole lot in this league.”

Well, actually, they do.

It may seem like comebacks from double-digit leads are common these days, but through Sunday, teams are 458-141 (.765) in games in which they held a double-digit lead. That includes a 326-111 mark (.746) when holding a double-digit lead at any point in the first half.

With the league-wide 3-point rate continuing to climb, it would seem that quarter-to-quarter variance is much bigger now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. But that .765 winning percentage in games led by double-digits isn’t a huge drop from 2014-15 (.789) or 2004-05 (.794).

Big leads still matter quite a bit … unless you’re playing Oklahoma City or Cleveland.

With their four wins last week, the Thunder are 9-4 in games they trailed by double-digits, which would be the best mark in the 29 seasons for which we have play-by-play data. The Cavs (6-4) are tied for the second-best mark and are the only other team with a winning record when trailing by double-digits this season.

The Cavs and Thunder have been the two best teams in the league all season, and they’ll finally face off on Wednesday in Cleveland.