Adams part of record win

New Zealander Steven Adams enjoyed a successful reunion against his former team as the Memphis Grizzlies broke the NBA record for margin of victory yesterday, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 152-79.

Adams scored nine points, collected eight rebounds and provided two assists in his 21 minutes on court.

The 73-point margin easily topped the previous mark, which was Cleveland’s 68-point win over Miami in 1991.

Memphis used 12 players and nine of them reached double figures in scoring, with Jaren Jackson Jr’s 27 points leading the way for the Grizzlies. Memphis were without their best player, injured guard Ja Morant.

It was 72-36 at halftime and the Grizzlies at one stage led by as many as 78 points.

The Thunder flirted with being on the wrong end of the record last season, trailing Indiana by 67 points on May 1 before rallying – such as it was – to lose by merely 57 points, 152-95.

This was worse. Historically worse.

The Grizzlies set a franchise record for shooting, making 62.5 per cent of their shots. De’Anthony Melton scored 19 points, Santi Aldama scored 18 and John Konchar scored 17 for the Grizzlies, and none of those three players even started.