Grizzlies 120, Knicks 108: Scenes from a decent enough effort

The New York Knicks made a game of it, but ultimately couldn’t catch enough breaks (and cover enough open three-point shooters) to come away with the win.

This game was weird. The Knicks did a phenomenal job of containing Ja Morant (23 points on 9-27 shooting), thanks to the work of RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes and a fantastic game from Mitchell Robinson. Desmond Bane (13 points on 4-18 shooting) also didn’t offer much. But the Grizzlies got outlier three-point shooting from the likes of Jaren Jackson Jr. (4-7), De’Anthony Melton (4-6) and Ziaire Williams (3-5). It seemed like the Knicks missed every tipped ball, which inevitably rolled straight into the hands of an open Memphis shooter.

On the Knicks side, Evan Fournier continued his stretch of molten hot shooting with 30 points on 11-18 from the field (8-12 from three). I couldn’t help but noticed that fans in the comments and on social media are no longer clamoring to trade him.

Oh well. The Griz are a tough opponent, and the Knicks played them pretty tough. The front office needs to trim some of the veterans off this roster so Thibs stops playing them. Recap to come.