Insider Insights: Memphis Grizzlies vs New York Knicks

Truly a tale of two halves…..

Memphis ended their two-game east coast road trip by matching up against the New York Knicks. Memphis came into the game on a five-game losing streak and looked to change their fate despite the tall challenge in front of them. New York, sitting at 32-18 and fourth in the Eastern Conference, has won 10 of their 11 games.

Memphis has a 13-14 record on the road while New York has an 18-6 record in Madison Square Garden.

Both teams were out key pieces. Mitchell Robinson, Quentin Grimes, Julius Randle, and OG Anunoby were out of the lineup. Memphis throughout their 31st different starting lineup of the year with nine rotational players out of the lineup.

The first half was all New York. Brunson exploded early with 17 points in the first quarter. He seemed to remember what Bluff City Media’s own Anthony Sain said about him during Ja Morant’s return press conference.

Ja on media perception of guys being ranked ahead of him pic.twitter.com/8i6HDNezac

— Anthony Sain (@SainAsylum) December 15, 2023

New York caught fire from the field shooting 66.7%. Memphis just couldn’t seem to get out the blocks as they struggled to a 24-33 deficit at the end of the quarter.

This trend continued into the second quarter as New York got out to a 19-4 run to start the quarter. Memphis was struggling to create any offense and to take care of the ball. They had seven turnovers this quarter and 10 total in the first half.

Vince Williams was the bright spot of the first half with 13 PTS, but New York ended the half with a 70-46 lead.

In the second half, things got interesting. Memphis showed some fight and the young guns made their presence felt. Memphis slightly edged out New York in the third quarter, winning the quarter 28-27.

New signee Trey Jemison gave the team good minutes with 8 PTS during the third and Luke Kennard added in 9 PTS of his own. Jalen Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo led the charge to keep Memphis at bay with 7 and 9 PTS respectively. The third ended with a 97-74 New York lead.

Memphis came out swinging in the final quarter. They went on an 18-1 run and cut the lead to single digits. GG Jackson II, David Roddy, and Jacob Gilyard all came alive in the 4th quarter, leading the comeback effort.

The Grizzlies were chipping away with great team defense and timely buckets on the other end. The turning point of the quarter was when Brunson went down with an ankle injury with 5:31 left in the quarter.

Without their All-Star PG, New York’s offense stalled, and Memphis shot lights out from three. Memphis shot 9/14 from behind the arch in the 4th. A David Roddy three-pointer at the 2:05 mark cut the lead to just four.

keep pushin.

9 treys in the 4th quarter from the gang 🔥🔥 https://t.co/0i9n4169zX pic.twitter.com/H9rojFyo9b

— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) February 7, 2024

Without Brunson off the floor, DiVincenzo put the team on his back. He capped off his 32-point performance with 8 points in the final two minutes to put New York over the edge. The final score was 123-113 in favor of the Knicks.

Memphis had 7 guys in double figures as Vince Williams Jr. led the team with 19 PTS. GG Jackson II was behind him with 16 of his own. Despite leaving the game early Jalen Brunson ended with 27 PTS and 8 ASTS.

Now for the takeaways:

More Positives than Negatives

Despite the loss, the Grizzlies have no reason to hang their heads. Grizzlies’ fans should be happy with what they saw.

To be down by 28 points and fight their way back into a two-possession game shows a lot of promise for the rest of the season. They could’ve easily waved the white flag early and mentally checked out. However, they played with a sense of pride that could be something to build on.

Last night, Memphis tied their season-high of assists with 33. The bench scored 52 points well above their average of 32.7.

They achieved these stats with a team of guys who have played most of their career with the Memphis Hustle.

GG Jackson II was more aggressive going downhill, Gilyard ran the team well after the Derrick Rose injury, and Trey Jemison showed flashes of what Memphis saw him do in the G-League. He may have earned himself another 10-day contract.

TREY JEMISON BLOCK AND PUT BACK

What a sequence for the newest Grizzly pic.twitter.com/KeZWkN8n1t

— Bryson (@BrysonWright3) February 7, 2024

These guys and a few others showed a lot of good things during this game in particular the last 24 minutes. Yes, the first half was hard to watch, but with a team so young and immature you have to take the good with the bad. These are the games that build maturity and character.

With the way this season has gone and the trade deadline being a mere two days away, I see these last few weeks of play as “tryout” games for the young guns. All the key guys have been out of the lineup for a significant amount of time, so this allows the front office to see what they truly have.

It’s a game-by-game tryout for these guys to prove to the front office their value going forward. I love it and Grizzlies fans will enjoy the rest of the season a lot more if they look at it that way.

This team isn’t going to win a lot of games, but giving younger players the platform to grow, make mistakes, and learn can’t be anything but a positive. It also gives the front office the chance to weed out the players the fan base has been clamoring for them to get rid of. It’s a win-win in my book.

Optimistic/Pessimistic

What to be optimistic about?: The young guys showed a lot of fight despite the loss. Flashes of promise were shown

What to be pessimistic about?: Derrick Rose went down with another injury and of course, no one likes losing games. 

Photo credit: (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)