The Oklahoma City Thunder have monstered the struggling Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, running out 43-point winners on the road.
Josh Giddey has won bragging rights over Australian countrymen Duop Reath and Matisse Thybulle as Oklahoma City belted Portland by 43 points for their biggest win in a decade.
One of the NBA’s most potent attacking sides, the Thunder began Monday’s (AEDT) road game with an 11-2 run and never again trailed, finishing up 134-91 winners.
Only twice since the turn of the century have the Thunder, or predecessors the Seattle Supersonics, scored bigger victories – both were by 45 points in 2012 and 2013.
The latest win would have equalled those 45-point margins if not for a dunk from Portland’s Moses Brown in the final 30 seconds.
Victory came despite Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault beginning to send his starting five to the bench with five minutes to play in the third quarter. None returned after the final change.
In total, six Thunder players scored in double figures, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the way on 28.
Australian guard Giddey had a team-high five assists to go with six points and four rebounds.
The Thunder shot at 71.8 per cent from the field before half-time, the most accurate first-half shooting display from any side this season.
They parlayed their precision into a 33-point half-time lead, all but sealing victory with two quarters to play.
Had the game stopped there, it would have been their most accurate shooting game in club history, dating back to the Supersonics’ formation in 1967.
The loss was Portland’s seventh in a row as life without Milwaukee recruit Damian Lillard continues to weigh on the Blazers.
Australians Reath and Thybulle combined for only six points from the bench.
Elsewhere, veteran Kevin Durant had 39 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the Phoenix Suns’ 140-137 double overtime defeat of the Utah Jazz.
Utah’s Lauri Markkanen (38 points, 17 rebuonds) booked overtime with a lay-up that tied the game at 115 in the final 20 seconds.
Once there, a three-pointer from Grayson Allen put the Suns in front in the final minute of the second period, before Devin Booker (26 points, eight assists) sealed victory with two free throws.
An 11th-hour dunk from Kristaps Porzingis helped Boston survive a scare from Memphis and run out 102-100 winners on the road.
Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum pivoted around to find a cutting Porzingis, whose two-handed dunk put the Bostonians in front.
Memphis missed two shots that could have helped snatch the game back and had another blocked, slipping to 3-10 for the season as the Celtics pieced together a six-game winning streak.
Toronto set a new team record for assists in a season, recording 44 in a 142-113 thrashing of Detroit.
Scottie Barnes led the way with nine assists, helping consign the Pistons to an 11-game skid.
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