As someone who has had quite a few blowout games this season, i can understand your question but i doubt very much that there are any mini enthusiasm boosts or anything like that.
I think what this particular case comes down to is just being plain old outplayed for a quarter. If you look at my last match against the Jets for example
(20587485) i was playing a team of mainly my second stringers and expected the heavy loss that i got. Even though the lineup that the opposing team fielded was better than mine, it was a home game for them and they put more enthusiasm into the game, i still somehow won the second quarter.
You could probably find examples around the place that better match your experience but basically, it's basketball and anything can happen. Teams go on runs and put together good periods of play sometimes, it just happened to be in the 4th quarter this time. Think about how many times the Phoenix Suns bench rallied from behind against the Lakers to claw their way back in these finals :P
Oh and as far as your player ratings goes, i don't see anything too unusual here. Sure you might be use to pulling a couple of double digit player ratings from what i see in a few of your recent games but tactics, enthusiasm etc have changed from game to game as well so it makes sense that your ratings would differ slightly like they have.
Last edited by DireWolf at 5/31/2010 1:37:20 PM