NEW ORLEANS -- Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy knew watching Thursday night's game from a hotel in Frisco, Texas, would be difficult. He just didn't know how difficult.

The good news is McCarthy's Cowboys beat the New Orleans Saints 27-17 to end a two-game losing streak and open up more room over the Washington Football Team in the NFC East with five games to play.

"It was rough, I'm not going to lie," McCarthy told ESPN via phone after the game. "I'm proud of the guys and how it all turned out, but I don't ever want to do this again."

McCarthy was placed in COVID-19 protocols over the weekend after testing positive, and Dan Quinn took over the head-coaching role Thursday. Five other coaches, including offensive line coach Joe Philbin and assistant offensive line coach Jeff Blasko, and two players (Terence Steele and Nahshon Wright) missed the game.

"Adversity win, ugly win, however, you want to define it, you have to have these wins, especially when you get to later in the year when you're playing teams that are trying to get in the playoffs or make a run," McCarthy said. "This is a great experience for us. Let's face it, this is today's NFL. You've got to be able to win with change."

The Cowboys had plenty of change.

Quinn is normally in the coaches' booth for the game, calling defenses, but he was on the sideline Thursday. Tight ends coach Lunda Wells took over the offensive line responsibilities. Offensive assistant Chase Haslett worked with the tight ends. Vice president of player personnel Will McClay was on the sideline, as was consultant Ben McAdoo. Assistant head coach Rob Davis was on a headset for the first time with McCarthy out.

"One thing you've heard me say before is I love doing hard things with a group of people, and this was one of those moments," said Quinn, who was the Atlanta Falcons' head coach for parts of six seasons and had a 2-3 record inside the Superdome. "We got great people to get the job done. We wanted to make sure Mike and all the guys who missed, let them know we got their backs. So honestly, that was the only thing I was nervous about. I didn't want to let him down. He's done a great job leading us, to how it's going to go down, the play style that we wanted. But it was just a cool win."

Quinn's defense contributed four takeaways, all interceptions, including a pick-six by defensive tackle Carlos Watkins. Running back Tony Pollard made it a two-score game in the third quarter with a 58-yard touchdown run, the longest run of his career and the longest scoring run since Ezekiel Elliott had a 60-yarder as a rookie in 2016.

It was the culmination of a week that forced the Cowboys to adjust on the fly. McCarthy ran the meetings all week virtually, and he held his normal pregame meeting via the internet on Thursday. Players and coaches met virtually before and after practices leading into the game and had to grab their meals at The Star to go. With the three strength coaches in COVID protocols, the players did not have access to the weight room all week and had to work out on their own.

"This is one of those weeks where no job is not your job right now," Quinn said.

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones had a funny line ready for Quinn after the game.

"I just told him with a win he's right there with Tom Landry," Jones said, referencing the Hall of Fame coach and Cowboys' all-time win leader. "He can now say he's head coached the Cowboys."

But Quinn will be glad to be back in the coaches' booth for next week's game against Washington.

"I'm hopeful that you guys won't see me again and I'll be back on the top here hopefully by the next game and Mike will make all the progress that we need to have him back on the field and a lot of other guys too," Quinn said. "We missed a number of guys today from the staff and a couple players as well, so hopefully this is hitting us with some time to see if we can get back and get back to our normalcy."

McCarthy said he is feeling much better and hopes to be back in the office early next week once he either posts two negative tests separated by 24 hours or reaches the 10-day quarantine.

He just knows he does not want to have to watch his team play from afar again.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- New Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups questioned his team's effort after a 114-83 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

The Blazers were without All-Star guard Damian Lillard but still put up little fight against a Spurs team which came into the contest six games below .500.

"My biggest concern, I think, at the moment, is I want us to compete harder, man. I want us to compete harder,'' Billups said. "I want us to be competitive in every game. And I don't feel like every night we do that. We don't. And it concerns me. And I've felt that way in a lot of our wins. This is not just after a loss, me saying this."

The Blazers fell below .500 with the loss and will be without their superstar for the near future. Portland announced on Wednesday that Lillard will miss 10 days with lower abdominal tendinopathy before being reevaluated.

They could be missing third-year guard Anfernee Simons soon as well. Simons, who started in Lillard's place on Thursday, suffered an ankle sprain in the first quarter and did not return.

The Blazers hired Billups this offseason with the hopes of improving the team's defense, which has struggled again nonetheless this season. The Spurs, who have the fewest 3-pointers in the NBA, made 11 in the opening half -- including the first three baskets of the game.

"We didn't have enough personal pride defensively in the game tonight," Billups said.

The loss is just Portland's second at home this season. They are 1-10 on the road.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.

The Phoenix Suns set a franchise record on Thursday night by winning their 18th consecutive game by defeating the visiting Detroit Pistons 114-103.

The previous record was held by the 2006-07 Suns who went on to finish 61-21. Phoenix improved to a league-best 19-3 with the victory.

The Suns accomplished the franchise mark without guard Devin Booker, who missed the game because of a hamstring injury. With Booker out, Phoenix used a balanced effort to pull off the victory with seven players scoring in double figures, led by Cameron Payne and Cameron Johnson who each had 19 points off bench.

Chris Paul had 12 points and 12 assists, while Deandre Ayton had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Suns pushed the lead out to as many as 18 points in the third quarter, but the Pistons, who hold the worst record in the league, refused to go away quietly. They made it a one-possession game late in the third, but Phoenix quickly regrouped and held off Detroit to get the win.

Phoenix, which picked up win No. 17 against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, plays the Warriors again Friday night on ESPN.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Memphis Grizzlies broke the NBA record for margin of victory on Thursday night, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 152-79.

The 73-point margin easily topped the previous mark, which was Cleveland's 68-point win over Miami. The Cavaliers topped the Heat 148-80 on Dec. 17, 1991.

"Tonight is not necessarily who we are,'' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "I think we've definitely shown that from a competitive standpoint. This isn't indicative of who our team is.''

Memphis used 12 players and nine of them reached double figures in scoring, with Jaren Jackson Jr.'s 27 points leading the way for the Grizzlies. Memphis was without its best player, injured guard Ja Morant.

It was 72-36 at halftime and the Grizzlies just kept adding to the lead, eventually pulling ahead by as many as 78 -- the largest lead in any game since at least 1996-97.

The Thunder flirted with being on the wrong end of the record last season, trailing Indiana by 67 points on May 1 before rallying -- such as it was -- to lose by merely 57 points, 152-95.

This was worse. Historically worse.

The Grizzlies set a franchise record for shooting, making 62.5% of their shots. De'Anthony Melton scored 19 points, Santi Aldama scored 18 and John Konchar scored 17 for the Grizzlies, and none of those three players even started.

"Man, it feels great. It feels great to be in the history books, especially in front of our home crowd,'' Melton said. "And we did it one through 15. Everybody contributed, everybody played hard and we all got to get in the game. So, it's always a blessing.

"We knew with [Morant] going down what we had to do,'' Melton said. "We had to step up.''

No Memphis starter played more than 21 minutes. The Grizzlies' bench contributed 93 points, outscoring Oklahoma City's entire team by 14 points.

Lu Dort led the Thunder with 15 points, and Oklahoma City shot only 33%.

It was 12-8 after five minutes. From there, there was no stopping Memphis. The Grizzlies outscored the Thunder by 15 points in each of the four quarters.

It was the third straight game the Grizzlies have led from start to finish. The Thunder lost their eighth straight as they continued to play short-handed with a number of players unavailable, including leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered concussion protocol earlier Thursday.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 39 points against the Rockets on Wednesday night but suffered a blow to the head late in the game. Point guard Josh Giddey, who averages 10.4 points and 5.5 assists, sat out with a non-COVID-19 illness, and the remaining players couldn't fill the void in Oklahoma City's offense.

The Thunder had been competitive in their seven straight losses before Thursday night. Their largest margin of defeat was 13 points.

"When you compete, you have exposure to the highs and lows of competition,'' Daigneault said. "And competition comes with great joy, and it also comes with grief and frustration and anger. And when you step in that ring, that's what you expose yourself to is all of those things.

"It's why the joy feels so good, because when you get punched and you taste your own blood, it doesn't feel right.''

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.