Grizzlies 103, Knicks 95: "Marc Gasol torched us"

New York battled and kept it close for a long time but Memphis was able to pull away in the closing minutes. The Knicks made their Metrocard comeback to pull it within five, but the damage was done. Missing Carmelo Anthony certainly played a role, but the team had enough to win. The waves broke in favor of Memphis who limited mistakes and got a fantastic effort from Marc Gasol.

- The Knicks had Kristaps Porzingis guarding Gasol to start. While I like the idea because Gasol typically plays a bit further from the basket and that kept Robin Lopez closer to the hoop against Zach Randolph, it's not the ideal matchup in my opinion. Randolph is the one of those two that is more likely to look to score from all types of different spots, and Porzingis can move his feet and use his length to change the shots. Gasol is deft and tricky, but Lopez may have been able to match some of his heft. Lopez was in foul trouble all game and barely played. So I'm not trying to say I'm right, but the jury should be out on that.

- Kristaps had several wowee zowee moments. That guy is special.

- Much respect to Jose Calderon for trying to back screen Zach Randolph and getting completely thumped. Much respect to Calderon for not allowing the much more huger JaMychal Green to post his tiny ass up. Much respect to Jose for actually firing some shots he should take and making a couple action packed passes. Jose, if you didn't know, is much too judicious. Señor Calderon also put the ball on the deck and made a couple of crafty drives to the cup. Mucho respito, papi.

- Speaking of Spaniards- the aforementioned Gasol annihilated the Knicks. He shook around and flipped home all types of baseline flings and top of the key frisbee things en route to what felt like 57 points. It was only 37, but I don't wanna talk about that guy.

- Langston Galloway had 7 rebounds in the first quarter. Memphis had 8. Langston wasn't able to keep pace with Memphis all game for some reason. He corralled 11 in the end, to go with 5 assists and 11 points in his first start of the season. Langston also seemed to deflect the ball and pressure all variety of Grizzlies into poor decisions, my favorite of which was when he slapped one hand down on the ball to pin it to the floor and force a jump ball with that guy I don't wanna talk about.

Last bit of Langston: His hand-eye coordination astounded me again tonight. On one trip down the floor Lou Amundson rifled a pass into someone's feet on the baseline, and somehow Galloway was able to redirect his momentum from following the shot to scooping up the ball and tossing it home.

- Memphis dusted the cobwebs off of Vince Carter. They were unable, however, to mask the visible stench of Matt Barnes in HD (Human Decay). Barnes ended up getting a flagrant foul on the Flamingo because of course he did. The guy has always been a creep. That is this shithead's opinion.

- Kevin Seraphin left the game with a bruised rib. I had Memphis on the brain, though, and read it several times as "braised" and was very jealous. I too wanted to leave the game with some ribs.

- Arron Afflalo was jumpy and hiccuped his way to 11 points on 11 shots with a couple of really bad turnovers and a huge helping of step-slow defense.

- The Memphis Sounds uniforms are beautiful. I just wish the names on the back of the jersey matched the font on the front. Instead they are some sort of vaguely mimicked cursive. Things that clash can work. This is not one of those cases. It's a shame because everything else about them is so classy!

- New York came out of a time out in 2-3 zone late in the first half. In doing that, it sort of felt like the Knicks didn't know why they were in the game. Memphis quickly solved it as Gasol immediately ran to the free throw line, zipped a pass to a cutting Tony Allen and swung home a mighty put back slam.

- Some of the sounds on Memphis' PA included Deltron 3030's "Memory Loss" and GZA's "Liquid Swords" instrumentals. Might I suggest you toss this one in:

"Marc Gasol torched us." Dead and gone said it in the game thread and just happened to have the perfect moniker to punctuate this truth. Where do the Knicks go from here? Home against Philly on Martin Luther King Day. With any luck the Sixers' huge win tonight will be their allotment for the month of January.