CHICAGO -- Ja Morant spun and flips into an over-the-shoulder layup. He drowned a vicious alley-up.
The Memphis Grizzlies All-Star guard put up quite the show for the Chicago crowd and may have got a little extra lift after watching Michael Jordan's highlights on the video board.
Morant scored a regular-season franchise-record 46 points, and the Grizzlies beat Demar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls 116-110 on Saturday night.
"I saw it," said Morant. "And then, I started scoring a lot. That probably played a part in that."
Morant broke Mike Miller's previous record (45 points) in 2007. Morant also set the overall franchise mark for points in the playoffs last season, when he scored 47 in a Game 2 loss to the Utah Jazz.
The Grizzlies reduced their lead by 17 points to one after two consecutive losses on Saturday. He also stopped Chicago's six-match winning streak.
Morant scored 16 runs in the first half and 20 in the third quarter. He made 15 of 28 shots, including three 3-pointers, and was 13-for-15 at the foul line.
Memphis Center Steven Adams joked of Morant's highlight plays, "I've seen too many of them. Now that's boring." "He's such an amazing player."
Adams added 12 points and a season-high 21 rebounds, and the Grizzlies disappointed DeRozan, even though the five-time All-Star scored 31 points—giving him 10 straight 30-point games.
It was the longest streak by a Bulls player when Jordan did it in 10 straight runs from December 25, 1990 to January 14, 1991. But DeRozan was only 10-in-29 off the field, which ended his NBA-record run. Eight games to score at least 35 while shooting 50% or more, and were ejected in the closing seconds.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of DeRozan, "As remarkable as he has been, he hasn't had a great shooting night." "I thought at the start of the game, he was really, really quite fouled, and he should have been on the foul line. I haven't seen the movie. It's like watching the game with my eyes on some downhill plays. Who knows what the game is like for him if he gets four quick free throws or some of those plays are called differently."
Zack LaVine scored 28 points for the Bulls in his second game after he missed the last three before the All-Star break due to a disease in his left knee.
Memphis led 17 in the third, with Morant going into the quarters. He made 6 of 7 shots, including 3 and a flying alley dump near the end of the period.
It was a 16-point game at the start of the fourth, when the Bulls scored 14–0, with DeRozan hitting two free throws to cut it to 101–99, with 4:38 to spare.
Chicago's Coby White made it 106-105 when he scored 3 with almost 2:30 remaining. Morant then hit two free throws before DeRozan went for a layup.
Grizzlies guard Desmond Bain took a 3 lead to take a 111-107 lead. Bulls' Nikola Vucevi scored a foul, and Bain and Morant missed the jumpers, before LaVine hit two free throws to cut the deficit to 111-110 with 25.5 seconds remaining.
Tyes Jones then hit a pair of free throws for Memphis to make it a three-point game with 14.9 seconds. At that point, the Bulls, with a timeout in their pocket, opted to attack the rim instead of trying a 3. But DeRozan missed into the lane, argued a non-call and picked up his second technical foul after receiving one earlier in the game, earning an ejection.
Morant, who was fouled in the scuffle by LaVine, then scored a technical free throw and two more fouled shots with 5.3 seconds remaining for the final point of the contest.