Everyone knows that NBA regular season basketball can be a slog. Players don’t always see the need to play intensely on the defensive end of the court on a nightly basis, and “load management” has become a regular part of the NBA season.
Most games still remain competitive, however, until Thursday night’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Oklahoma City Thunder, that is.
The Grizzlies set an NBA record for margin of victory, beating the Thunder by 73-points in a 152-79 win. According to NBA.com, the 73-point win eclipses the previous record set by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1991 when they beat the Miami Heat by 68 points.
history. pic.twitter.com/sDt8SNu1zY
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) December 3, 2021
“Tonight is not necessarily who we are,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault told reporters.
“I think we’ve definitely shown that from a competitive standpoint — this isn’t indicative of who our team is.”
“Competition comes with great joy, and it also comes with grief and frustration and anger … It’s why the joy feels so good because, when you get punched and you taste your own blood, it doesn’t feel right.”
Memphis led 72-36 at the end of the first half, and continued rolling in the second, shooting a franchise record 62.5% shooting from the field with nine players scoring in double-figures. Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. led Memphis in scoring, pouring in 27 points on 9-11 shooting from the field. With a little over three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Thunder trailed by 78 points.
“Man, it feels great. It feels great to be in the history books, especially in front of our home crowd,” said De’Anthony Melton, who scored 19 points. “And we did it one through 15. Everybody contributed, everybody played hard and we all got to get in the game. So, it’s always a blessing.
“We knew with [Morant] going down what we had to do,” Melton said. “We had to step up.”
The Grizzlies 152 points also set a new franchise record for points scored in a game.
“Franchise records are obviously great. Obviously proud of our guys that they don’t think about that,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “We’re just motivated by what are our standards every single night. Tonight was on pretty full display both offensively and defensively.”
Oklahoma City is 6-16 on the season, and the loss to the Grizzlies is the team’s eighth in a row, and tenth in eleven games. The Thunder shot an anemic 32.9% from the field and 28.9% from beyond the arc. Their leading scorer was Lu Dort, who managed just 15 points.
In May 2020, the Thunder set another NBA record, losing by 57 to the Indiana Pacers. It was the largest loss by a home team in the history of the league.
RELATED: LeBron James Tests Negative For COVID, Able To Return Friday Against Clippers
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].