A Strong Memphis Grizzlies Third Quarter Finish, Finishes the New York Knicks 103-82

The New York Knicks did not take care of the basketball to start the game against the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night. New York was extremely sloppy, with self-made turnovers. The Knicks nearly averaged a turnover per minute, committing five turnovers in the first six minutes of play. The biggest culprit of this was Lance Thomas, who was just coming off a terrific game in which he scored a career high, 24 points on Sunday night. Thomas started off the game with an inbound turnover, then stepped out-of-bounds twice…in a minutes span… By the time Thomas committed his third turnover, and the team’s fifth turnover, Memphis had already doubled-up on New York 18-9 with 5:30 remaining in the first quarter.

By the end of the first quarter Memphis had a double-digit lead over New York, thanks in large part to poor time management with Jason Smith taking a shot with over three seconds remaining on the shot clock, which lead to a wide-open transition three by Nick Calathes.

The Grizzlies lead 30-20 after the opening period, Marc Gasol reached double figures in one quarter of play. Gasol refuted earlier reports of him ruling out the Knicks this summer, stating “I haven’t ruled anything out because I haven’t thought about anything so it would be (premature),”.

New York hanged in the game relatively well, despite committing half the amount of turnovers New York would normally commit for an entire game. The Knicks finished the first quarter with seven turnovers, averaging 14.3 per game. New York hanged in the game by shooting 50% from the field, Lance Thomas lead the way with seven points, somewhat redeeming himself for all the foolish early turnovers.

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The Knicks cut a 14 point deficit to one, going on a 17-8 run mid-way through the second quarter. Andrea Bargnani led the way with nine points in the second quarter, getting into the paint for back to back layups during the run. New York held Memphis to 41.2% shooting from the field in the second quarter. Grizzlies lead by only one possession going into halftime 50-48.

Langston Galloway gave New York a brief lead early in the third quarter with a three-pointer, 51-50 with 10:31 remaining in the third quarter. New York though would only score ten more points for the remainder of the quarter as the Grizzlies suffocated the Knicks on defense. Memphis forced five more turnovers in the period , as well as forcing New York to shot 27.8% from the field in the third quarter.

Vince Carter and Gasol combined to score ten points, five points each respectively in a 12-3 run to end the third quarter to give Memphis a 74-61 lead heading into the final quarter. Carter continued his hot shooting against New York to start the fourth quarter, Carter knocked down back to back threes to give Memphis an 81-63 lead with 10:26 remaining in the fourth quarter. Carter finished the game with 14 points.

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New York got as close as 11 points in the fourth quarter with Shane Larkin leading the way in an 11-4 run, getting into the paint for a layup and setting up his teammates with three assist. With the score 85-74 David Joerger had seen enough, calling a timeout to put an end to the Knicks’ run. Joerger’s Grizzlies responded, going on an 16-5 run to effectively end the game, Memphis went on to the game handily 103-82.

Gasol finished the game with 21 points and eight rebounds. Former-Knick Zach Randolph scored a game high 23 points, as well as grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assist. Memphis dominated New York in the low-post with 56 points in the paint.

New York had four players in double figures scoring, Thomas finished the game with 15 points, Smith finished the game with 16 points, Galloway finished with 19 points, and Bargnani finished the game with 18 points. The problem is all these players had the worst +/- for New York Monday night. The lone player in single digit negative +/- was Louis Amundson, an effort/hustle player with a -8 +/-, which is very telling that Amundson is affecting the game relatively more than the offensive players despite only scoring three points in the game.

Next: Marc Gasol: I Haven't Ruled Out the Knicks in Free Agency