Unbeaten Grizzlies at unbeaten Blazers and winless Kings at winless Pelicans on the same night, a first since at least 2004-05: Thursday’s NBA in numbers

Thursday’s three-game NBA schedule has both ends of the standings on the same floor. The 4-0 Memphis Grizzlies visit the 3-0 Portland Trail Blazers, and the 0-4 Sacramento Kings visit the 0-4 New Orleans Pelicans. By the end of the night, at least one unbeaten team will have lost and at least one winless team will have won.

Games like these are rare this early. We went through every regular-season game since 2004-05, when the league went to 30 teams, using league schedules and Basketball-Reference game logs. Two teams that were both 3-0 or better have met only nine times in those 22 seasons, and two teams that were both 0-4 or worse only four times. No night has had one of each until now. The numbers below are through Wednesday’s games.

The numbers that stand out

Memphis at Portland is the first meeting of two teams that are 3-0 or better since Oct. 30, 2019, when Philadelphia beat Minnesota 117-95
Sacramento at New Orleans is the first meeting of two teams that are 0-4 or worse since Nov. 6, 2015, when the Lakers won 104-98 in Brooklyn
In the nine unbeaten meetings since 2004-05, the road team won six, and the winner reached the playoffs eight times
None of the eight teams in the four winless meetings made the playoffs, and none won more than 25 games
Portland leads the league in scoring at 129.3 points a game and in point differential at plus-18.7. Sacramento is last in point differential at minus-17.8
Houston, at 5-0, is the only other unbeaten team. Oklahoma City lost for the first time on Wednesday, 120-96 in Dallas

Grizzlies at Trail Blazers: nine unbeaten meetings since 2004-05

Date	Result	Records before	Final records
Oct. 30, 2019	Philadelphia 117, Minnesota 95	3-0 vs. 3-0	43-30, 19-45
Oct. 29, 2018	Milwaukee 124, Toronto 109	6-0 vs. 6-0	60-22, 58-24
Nov. 2, 2016	Oklahoma City 85, at Clippers 83	3-0 vs. 3-0	47-35, 51-31
Nov. 4, 2015	Golden State 112, Clippers 108	4-0 vs. 4-0	73-9, 53-29
Nov. 8, 2014	Golden State 98, at Houston 87	4-0 vs. 6-0	67-15, 56-26
Nov. 4, 2014	Houston 108, at Miami 91	4-0 vs. 3-0	56-26, 37-45
Nov. 3, 2009	Phoenix 104, at Miami 96	3-0 vs. 3-0	54-28, 47-35
Nov. 5, 2008	Detroit 100, at Toronto 93	3-0 vs. 3-0	39-43, 33-49
Nov. 7, 2007	Clippers 104, at Indiana 89	3-0 vs. 3-0	23-59, 36-46

Winner listed first; “at” marks a road win. Records before are the winner’s first. 2019-20 records are from the shortened season.

The winners of these games have usually been the better team over the full season. Seven of the nine finished with the better record, and eight made the playoffs. The exception was the 2007-08 Clippers, who won in Indiana to go 4-0 and finished 23-59. Two of the 17 teams went on to win the title: the 2014-15 Warriors, who handed Houston its first loss, and the 2018-19 Raptors, who lost their 6-0 meeting in Milwaukee.

Home court has not helped much. Road teams won six of the nine, though the last two meetings went to the home team. Portland is at home on Thursday.

Ja and the Blazers leave LA with a W and an undefeated 3-0 record 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PUQMsTorMZ
— NBA (@NBA) October 28, 2026

Video: NBA / X.

How the unbeaten teams got here

Portland has the bigger margins. It beat Phoenix by 41, Sacramento by eight and the Lakers by seven, and it is plus-56 in three games. Five players are averaging at least 14 points: Deni Avdija (22.3), Damian Lillard (21.7), Toumani Camara (16.3), Ja Morant (16.3) and Jrue Holiday (14.0). Camara has made 13 of his 22 threes. Thursday is Morant’s first regular-season game against Memphis, the team that traded him in June.

Memphis has had to hold on. Two of its four wins came by five points or fewer, 111-108 over Golden State and 110-105 over Utah, and it is plus-39 overall, fifth in the league. Ty Jerome is averaging 29.8 points on 40-for-79 shooting, and rookie Cameron Boozer is averaging 15.2 points and 10.5 rebounds. Jerami Grant, a former Trail Blazer, is averaging 9.8 points off the bench.

Team	Record	Points scored	Points allowed	Differential (rank)
Portland	3-0	129.3	110.7	+18.7 (1st)
Memphis	4-0	116.8	107.0	+9.8 (5th)
New Orleans	0-4	116.2	122.0	-5.8 (21st)
Sacramento	0-4	107.8	125.5	-17.8 (30th)

Per game, through Wednesday’s games.

Kings at Pelicans: four winless meetings since 2004-05

Date	Result	Records before	Final records
Nov. 6, 2015	Lakers 104, at Brooklyn 98	0-4 vs. 0-5	17-65, 21-61
Nov. 5, 2014	Orlando 91, at Philadelphia 89	0-4 vs. 0-4	25-57, 18-64
Nov. 6, 2013	Boston 97, Utah 87	0-4 vs. 0-4	25-57, 25-57
Nov. 12, 2004	Atlanta 96, at New Orleans 95	0-4 vs. 0-4	13-69, 18-64

Winner listed first; “at” marks a road win.

The history here is bleak. The eight teams in these games averaged about 20 wins, and the best of them won 25. The last time New Orleans hosted a game like this, the franchise was still called the Hornets and lost 96-95 to Atlanta in November 2004. Both teams finished that season with fewer than 20 wins. Three of the four games were decided by six points or fewer.

This year’s two teams have lost in different ways. New Orleans has been close. Its first three losses came by a combined 10 points, including 141-135 in overtime in Denver, before a 104-91 home loss to the Nuggets on Wednesday. Zion Williamson is averaging 21.8 points on 32-for-53 shooting, and Jamahl Mosley is still looking for his first win as the Pelicans’ coach.

Sacramento has not been close. Its losses were by 25, eight, 11 and 27 points, and it has allowed 125.5 points a game. Its scoring is concentrated in three players. Zach LaVine is averaging 27.2 points, rookie Darius Acuff Jr. 21.5 and Domantas Sabonis 19.0 with 16.5 rebounds, the most in the league. Together they account for 63% of the Kings’ points.

What comes next

Kings at Pelicans and Cavaliers at Hawks tip at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, and Grizzlies at Trail Blazers at 10 p.m. ET. In Cairo that is 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Friday, after Egypt’s clocks go back an hour at midnight. The Brooklyn Nets, also 0-4, do not play. If Memphis wins, Houston and the Grizzlies will be the only 5-0 teams. If Portland wins, the Blazers will be one of two teams at 4-0 or better, alongside Houston. Either way, the start of the season has never been a perfect guide: of the 59 teams that started 4-0 since 2004-05, 51 made the playoffs, and 10 of the 58 that started 0-4 did too.