Big Night For Bridges
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
The New York Knicks outscored the Memphis Grizzlies in each quarter of their 143-106 win Monday night at Madison Square Garden. Making shots with the Knicks defensive efforts paid off in the game. New York had 20 steals and 36 points from forcing 26 turnovers, which helped lead to the victory.
“OG (Anunoby) and Mikal (Bridges) were all over the place and that set the tone for us,” said Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau about how the team stayed together defensively. “It’s inspiring when you get those hustle plays and it also puts you in the open floor and gets you easy baskets.”
Bridges led the Knicks with 28 points in the game. He had six assists, five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Karl-Anthony Towns added 24 points and two steals; Jalen Brunson had 20 points and two steals; and OG Anunoby contributed 15 points, a blocked shot and six of the 20 steals.
New York led 34-31 at the end of the first quarter and 60-52 at half time. Bridges led the team with 14 points by the end of the second quarter. He and Anunoby each had one blocked shot by half time.
“I mean going against Ja [Morant] for all these years, man, tough matchup,” Bridges said about guarding Morant and holding him to five of 13 attempted field goals in the game.
New York led 102 to 84 at the end of the third quarter.
“The hustle was there and it was a good solid win,” Thibodeau said. “I thought we started slow rebounding but I thought as the game went on our rebounding got better and better and we got a good opportunity to get second chance points which was terrific.”
The Knicks were out-rebounded by the Grizzlies 47-46 in the game, but had more rebounds in the second half of the game with 14 in the third quarter and 13 in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies had nine rebounds in the third quarter and 12 rebounds in the fourth quarter.
“I think just time together practices being around each other knowing that we need defense, offense is not going to win, it can win us some games but not where we want to get to,” Bridges said about the team’s defense. “We’re just learning about each other, learning what we have to do, what it takes, so I think we’re going in the right direction.”
The Knicks started their 5-home game stint strong with 143 points in each of the first two games. They next took on the Denver Nuggets Wednesday before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers and Le Bron James Saturday night in prime time on ABC.
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