Insider Insights: The Grizzlies Injury List Keeps Growing in Loss to the Knicks

The Memphis Grizzlies remained competitive for most of the game but ultimately fell short against the New York Knicks.

The Grizzlies began the game by hitting four of their first eight shot attempts to take an early 10-4 lead but the Knicks quickly responded with a 9-2 run to take the lead at 13-12. The Knicks’ run extended to 15-2 as they took a 7-point lead when Jake LaRavia left the game with a sprained ankle which left the Grizzlies with 8 available players remaining. However, the Grizzlies refused to let the game get away from them as they went on a 13-2 run to take a 4-point lead before ending the first quarter leading 27-25.

The first half of the second quarter continued where the first quarter finished with the teams trading leads throughout as offense wasn’t a problem from either team leading to a 42-39 lead by the Knicks at the 6:49 mark. Then Luke Kennard spearheaded a run, scoring 10 straight at one point, as the Grizzlies regained the lead at halftime 57-53. Vince Williams Jr., Luke Kennard, and GG Jackson all had 12 points each going into the half for the Grizzlies.

HEAD TAPS @Rookiedunker pic.twitter.com/Y4aZzGsNBQ

— Grind City Media (@grindcitymedia) January 14, 2024

The Knicks regained the lead in the third quarter and pushed it to lead by as many as 12 points as they started to take command of the younger inexperienced Grizzlies leading to an 83-72 lead going into the fourth quarter. Then the Knicks led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter on their way to a 106-94 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies fought hard but ran out of gas which leads to my main takeaway:

The Memphis Hustle turned Grizzlies

Yesterday I talked about Vince Williams Jr.’s rise from a two-way contract to becoming a rotation player and being rewarded with a full-time promotion to the main roster. Also, I mentioned how the fourth quarter of the Clippers game included the Memphis Hustle guys from the early parts of the 2022-2023 season minus Luke Kennard and that group carried over into this matchup against the New York Knicks.

With Desmond Bane ruled out with the sprained ankle he suffered against the Los Angeles Clippers and Jaren Jackson Jr. being added to the injury report with the Right Knee Contusion that held him out against the Dallas Mavericks early last week, the Grizzlies began this matchup with only nine players available to play and their 21st different starting lineup of the season. The starters included former Memphis Hustle guys Vince Williams Jr., David Roddy, Xavier Tillman, current two-way guy guard Jacob Gilyard, and Luke Kennard.

Eight of their nine available players have been a part of their G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, roster at some point throughout their careers. Of the “veteran” full-time roster guys, John Konchar played on a two-way contract during the 2019-2020 season and Xavier Tillman played with the Memphis Hustle for five games after requesting the coaching staff to allow him to play during the early part of the 2022-2023 season when his playing time had decreased with the Grizzlies.

The cohesion of that group was apparent early in the matchup as the team assisted on six of their 10 made baskets in the first quarter as they held the lead at the end of the quarter. Vince Williams Jr., David Roddy, and GG Jackson combined to score 20 of the team’s 27 first-quarter points.

GET OFF THE RIM THEN @_ggjackson pic.twitter.com/A7szAGNs7H

— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) January 14, 2024

Even with the loss of Jake LaRavia in the first quarter for the rest of the game, the even more short-handed Grizzlies showed signs of real growth throughout the first half as the “veteran” Luke Kennard scored 12 points in three minutes to help the Grizzlies take the lead going into the half.

The group continued to impress in the second half as iso plays continued to be held to a minimum. Ball movement was a key component of the Grizzlies’ offense as they finished with 27 assists on 36 made baskets and had six players score in double figures to help be very competitive in the loss to the Knicks.

Start/Stop/Continue

START incorporating GG Jackson into the rotation even when some of the guys that are projected to return this season do return. It was only one game but he displayed a lot of the scoring prowess from the wing position that the Grizzlies have been missing for a very long time and was his supposed strength when entering the NBA Draft. There should not be any reason for him to play another G League minute this season with the injuries to this roster and the potential of him being the best of the young wings on the team. He finished his first game with real rotation minutes leading the team in scoring off the bench with 20 points on 9-14 shooting.

admin had to play simon sez and wanted to make sure y’all saw this pic.twitter.com/dCnmLIbyVD

— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) January 14, 2024

Coming Up

The Grizzlies remain home for their 3rd game in 4 nights as they welcome the Golden State Warriors on their annual MLK Day game Monday at 5 PM CST.

Final Quote

“I loved our intensity and energy, just really proud of our guys with the way we fought today” – David Roddy