Ja Shows Why He’s An All Star
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Shara Talia Taylor
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
The upbeat start, aggressive defense and extra effort in the third and fourth quarters wasn’t enough for the New York Knicks to push past the Memphis Grizzlies in the 120-108 loss Wednesday evening.
A full house that included Fat Joe, Spike Lee, Colin Kaepernick and CC Sabathia showed up at Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks take on the Grizzlies and the newly announced NBA All-Star starter Ja Morant. The Knicks played competitively against Morant and Memphis but missed opportunities and trailed throughout the game as the Grizzlies took more shots and
had more rebounds.
“You have to commit to [Ja] Morant and you have to find bodies and finish your defense and I feel we didn’t do that,” said Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau.
Morant had 23 total points, four rebounds and led the Grizzlies with nine assists. The Grizzlies are 4th in scoring this season.
“You’re gonna get their best,” said Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. He said the Grizzlies play hard and he had to be ready for the challenge. Robinson had 14 points, 11 rebounds and one assist.
“You have to commit to [Ja] Morant and you have to find bodies and finish your defense and I feel we didn’t do that,” said Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau.
Morant had 23 total points, four rebounds and led the Grizzlies with nine assists. The Grizzlies are 4th in scoring this season.
“You’re gonna get their best,” said Knicks center Mitchell Robinson. He said the Grizzlies play hard and he had to be ready for the challenge. Robinson had 14 points, 11 rebounds and one assist.
“The start of the game…falling behind on the defensive transition,” Thibodeau said as he evaluated the game. “Then we got that
squared away and they played well, and then [Ja] Morant puts a lot of pressure on you and then the offensive rebounding had cost us in the fourth quarter.”
RJ Barrett scored first for New York at the free throw line making one of two shots. He finished with 23 points, four rebounds, one assist and made eight of his 11 free throw attempts.
“The way we evaluate it is, especially the transition points in the first half, you clean those up, I make a couple more free-throws and we get some more rebounds,” Barrett said afterwards.
The teams were tied at 11 with about seven minutes remaining in the first quarter. Evan Fournier sank a 3-pointer, Julius Randle immediately hit another 3-point shot and added two more points. The Knicks trailed 35-27 at the end of the quarter.
Robinson dominated in the second quarter getting dunks from offensive rebounds. He and forward Obi Toppin each had four total rebounds in the quarter. Mitchell and Fournier led the Knicks each with six points in the quarter. However, Morant led his team with nine points and had one assist as he gave teammate Ziaire Williams an ally-oop for a dunk as the Knicks trailed 64-52 at halftime.
“At halftime, I think we were down 12,” said Fournier, who led the Knicks in scoring with 30 points for the game. “We were actually pretty confident that we were going to make the run.”
Knicks fought back in the third quarter, decreasing the Grizzlies lead to six. The aggressiveness gave foul shots for the Grizzlies, but Thibodeau said he felt it was part of the game. Knicks trailed 92-79 at the end of the quarter. New York closed the gap to five points in the fourth quarter, but the Grizzlies stayed consistent and ended up at the free throw line, where they made six of nine attempts in the quarter.
The Knicks begin a 5-game road trip which starts Saturday night in Los Angeles to take on the Lakers.
