Record shooting night can't help Grizzlies break losing streak

No NBA team has ever made more three-pointers in a game than the Memphis Grizzlies did Monday night. Unlike the other teams that sank 27 or more threes, the Grizzlies couldn't win the game.

Despite their 29 three-pointers, the Grizzlies lost their fifth straight game, losing 142-126 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. They went 29-for-59 from distance thanks to career-best shooting nights from Dariq Whitehead and rookie Adama Bal, but the Grizzlies' lack of defense, rebounds and NBA-level talent doomed them to defeat.

Memphis Grizzlies leaning on replacement-level talent

Whitehead shot 6-for-12 from deep and scored 20 points in just his third game of the season. Bal, an undrafted rookie, also made six threes and scored 20 in his seventh NBA game. The Grizzlies have had to scour the G League for replacements after seven of the team's top players had season-ending surgeries.

It's unclear if these injuries to players like Ja Morant, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Scotty Pippen, Jr. would have kept them out were the Grizzlies still trying to win games. However, two of the players had toe procedures and KCP had surgery on his pinky finger, the body's furthest extremity.

That's what makes Monday's game more of a curiosity than an accomplishment. The Grizzlies tied the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks for the single-game record thanks largely to hitting 10 threes in the final quarter, when they were outscored 41-36. It got ugly late as the Grizzlies chased the record, missing their last four attempts from deep and intentionally fouling to get the ball back, despite the game being decided.