Indiana Pacers hand Oklahoma City largest home loss in NBA history with 57-point victory

The Indiana Pacers scored the most points in franchise history Saturday night, and dealt the Oklahoma City Thunder the largest home loss in NBA history with a 152-95 win. 

The 57-point margin of victory topped the previous record of 56, set by the Boston Celtics in 2018 and the Seattle SuperSonics in 1986.

The Pacers flirted with the record of biggest win in league history, leading by 67 points with over four minutes left in the game. The NBA record is 68 points, set by the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 148-80 win over the Miami Heat in 1991.

Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis, who returned from a back injury, had a triple double in the first half and finished with 26 points, 19 rebounds and 14 assists. Indiana shot 65.5% from the field, including going 21-for-33 from 3-point land.

"We were just out there having fun. We didn’t even realize the score most of the time. We were just running our plays, trying to be aggressive and good things were happening," Sabonis said. 

Since the joining the NBA in 1976, the Pacers had only scored 150 once before Saturday, back in a 1982 loss to the Denver Nuggets. For Oklahoma City, it was the second time in less than a month losing by at least 48 points after losing to Portland 133-85 on April 3. 

“It’s embarrassing," Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “I’m not going to try to spin that. It’s tough. It’s demoralizing.”

The Thunder, who were without their top two scorers in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (23.7 ppg) and Luguentz Dort (14.3 ppg) due to injuries, have the third worst record in the Western Conference are already eliminated for the playoff contention at 21-43. They recently broke a 14-game losing streak and have now lost 19 of their last 21 games.

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