Kiwi centre Steven Adams and his Memphis Grizzles have laid a good, old-fashioned beatdown on his old team, Oklahoma City Thunder, inflicting an NBA-record defeat.
To be fair, Adams wasn't required to do much, logging just 21 minutes for nine points, eight rebounds, two assists and a block in a 152-79 victory that shattered the previous biggest win in the US basketball showcase.
Forward Jaren Jackson Jnr led the massacre with 27 points, including six three-pointers, as nine Grizzlies - including six bench players - scored in double figures.
Adams left the game with three minutes left in the third quarter and enjoyed the luxury of some well-earned rest, as the Memphis reserves enjoyed some extended 'garbage time'.
With two minutes remaining, the margin extended to 78 points, before the Thunder rallied to whittle back some pride - but not much. The outcome bettered the previous record of 68 points, when Cleveland Cavaliers thumped Miami Heat 148-80 in 1991.
The Grizzlies have now managed three consecutive wins, since superstar point guard Ja Morant was sidelined with a knee sprain.
Oklahoma City played without leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (concussion) and Aussie rookie guard Josh Giddey (non-COVID illness).
"Man, it feels great," says reserve guard De'Anthony Melton. "It feels great to be in the history books, especially in front of our home crowd 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 - we had to step up."
Memphis have improved to 12 wins/10 losses for the season and can top the Southwest Division with victory over Dallas Mavericks on Saturday (NZ time).
