The dominance of the Toronto Raptors for much of this season has been downright extraordinary.
Heading into Tuesday night's game at the Air Canada Centre against the Brooklyn Nets, the Raptors had scored 100 or more points in 14 consecutive outings.
Since Nov. 28, over a span of 11 games in which they went 9-2, Toronto counted five of those victories by margins of at least 20 points.
DeMar DeRozan, the team's leading light, has blazed the trail offensively, courting a Michael Jordanesque run of 30-plus points over four consecutive games into the Brooklyn battle. He started off the season with five consecutive outings of at least 30 points and has reached that plateau in 15 of his first 27 outings.
Kyle Lowry, DeRozan's on-court running mate, has been draining threes with the ease of a golfer standing over a gimme putt – shooting an unconscionable 58.2 per cent (53 of 91) from long range over his previous 12 outings.
Really, in the face of all that, what chance did a struggling Nets team have against a Raptors team who were in anything but a giving mood in the so-called festive season?
Very little, it turned out, as Toronto once again ran roughshod over an opponent, storming to a 116-104 victory over the Nets before another satisfied capacity crowd at the ACC, who are becoming used to these kinds of routs.
With the win, Toronto's second in a row, the Raptors improved to 20-8.
It marked just the second time in franchise history that the team has won that many times inside of 30 games to start a season. The Raptors needed 26 games to reach 20 wins during the 2014-15 campaign.
That's a far cry from Dwane Casey's first season as the coach in 2011-12, when the Raptors needed 55 games before celebrating their 20th win.
Tuesday's game was a relentless burial of an opponent that began in the second quarter, when the Raptors' sharpshooters outscored Brooklyn 35-23 to take a 64-46 stranglehold.
The Raptors tossed more dirt on the open grave in the third quarter, when they would lead by as many as 23 points before settling for a 91-72 lead heading into the final frame.
Lowry would lead the Raptors with 23 points and four rebounds, while DeMarre Carroll chipped in with 17 points. Jonas Valanciunas contributed 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Norman Powell came off the bench to record a season-high 21 points.
DeRozan had a quiet night, settling for 15 points.
It was the final home game of 2016 for the Raptors, who now head out for their annual Christmas holiday road excursion, a six-game journey that will keep them away from home until Jan. 3. Toronto's first game of the trip will come on Friday in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz.
It has been a rough start to the NBA campaign for the Nets, who came to Toronto having lost two in a row and seven of their past nine. Their record is now 7-20.
Kenny Atkinson, in his first season as the Nets coach, almost sounded wistful when discussing what he viewed as the merits of the Raptors pregame. "I think it's continuity," he said when asked for his take on the Raptors. "I think it's a team that's played together for a while. They've been through a lot.
"I remember DeRozan when he was a young guy – he's still young. But he went and figured it out and now he's more and more comfortable. He's figured out the league. And Lowry is obviously playing at a super high level and shooting the ball great. [Jonas] Valanciunas has been there for a while.
"I think when you can keep a team together like that, for a long time, it pays dividends."
Ever pragmatic, Casey said he has been a bit surprised by his team's strong showing so far considering some injury issues and a tendency to approach defensive play as one would a trip to the dentist. "I still feel there's a lot of room for improvement for us," he said. "To be honest, I don't look at the record. I think about what we can do better and there's so much we can do better.
The Raptors drained 11 of their 21 shots in the opening quarter (52.4 per cent) to open up a 29-23 advantage.
Toronto began to flex its muscle in the second quarter, during which the Raptors closed out the final 4 1/2 minutes on a 17-3 run to take a 64-46 lead into the break.