J.R. Smith's Lunch and Other Knicks-Grizzlies Leftovers

Knicks-Grizzlies was fun. Or, said differently, the first half of Knicks-Grizzlies were more fun than the second half was terrifying. We'll take it. Here are a few tabs I had open when I woke up this morning:

- Lots of great things were said by and about J.R. Smith last night. I already mentioned J.R.'s insinuation that the Grizzlies showed up a little too bleary-eyed for tip-off, which is analysis you're not gonna get from anyone but J.R. His and Mike Woodson's assessments of their unique dynamic were equally entertaining:

"It’s crazy. Off the court it’s like father-son. On the court we bump heads sometimes. He cusses me out, I cuss him out and we just go from there," Smith said. "It’s fun. I love playing for him."

Said Woodson: "I try to coach him and be demanding, but I see something maybe other coaches didn’t see in terms of his ability to score the basketball.

"I think you’ve got to put him in the right positions and you’ve got to be demanding with him and not let him off the hook, and I’ve tried not to do that with him. Sometimes I can get away with things I say with him and sometimes I can’t."

- Here's Kenyon Martin's comment on J.R.'s recent excellence:

"He's just being aggressive as they come right now, attacking the basket," Martin said. "He's not settling. When he does that, it just opens his jump shot up even more.

"I don't know what he's eating for breakfast or dinner or whatever it is but we need him to keep doing it. He's putting us on his back at times when we need him to and he's making huge plays."

And about the claims that Mike Woodson has finally tamed him?

"Swish going be Swish though, man," Martin said. "He's going to come in, he's going to work, he's going to do what he has to do to help us win. But the other stuff, I don't get involved with it. That's Woody's job. If I can help with it I will."

My only takeaway from that is that J.R. must be eating some very meager lunches, because Kenyon skipped right over that one. He was considering which of J.R.'s meal choices made him play so well and was like "Well, I know it couldn't have been lunch. J.R.'s lunches are AWFUL."

- Here's J.R.'s alley-oop from Jason Kidd, which was right around the peak of the Knicks' dominant first half:

- And that first half really was something.

- You know how I keep saying Kenyon Martin's going to maim somebody out there one of these nights? He came pretty close while trying to "wrap up" Mike Conley last night.

- We talked last night about Iman Shumpert attacking when the Grizzlies stuck Zach Randolph on him. That wasn't an accident:

Iman Shumpert on being guarded by Zach Randolph: "Early on we just recognized they put a big man on me. I took it as disrespect."

- Via Bronx Chica, this was Jason Kidd's most otherworldly pass of the evening. Steve Novak made a nice catch but couldn't get Kidd the dime. I can't get it to embed, but there ya go.

- "Sounds of the Game".

- Here, via Oakley and Allen, is the .gif of the night:

via 25.media.tumblr.com

I believe that was a reaction to J.R.'s crucial transition and-one in the second half. I love the seamless transition: "FUCK YEAokay the score's still close."

'Twas a good night. Scarier than it had to be, but very good overall.