The New York Knicks put in arguably their most dominant performance of the season, blowing out the Memphis Grizzlies 143-106 to win by their largest margin of the season. New York has won four straight and are now 31-16, while Memphis has their six-game winning streak come to an end as they fall to 31-16.
The Knicks took advantage of poor ball control by the Grizzlies
The Grizzlies entered the night as one of the best teams at limiting turnovers, but the Knicks’ defensive pressure was too much for Memphis as they dominated defensively.
The Grizzlies turned the ball over 26 times, more than double the Knicks’ amount which sat at 10. New York also recorded 20 steals and scored an astounding 36 points off of Memphis’ turnovers.
Eight different Knicks players recorded at least one steal, including six from OG Anunoby and four from Precious Achiuwa. Mikal Bridges also did a solid job guarding Ja Morant on the perimeter, as he was held to just 10 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the floor.
The Knicks also posed a strong interior presence against a big Grizzlies team. New York recorded seven blocks on the night, including two each from Achiuwa and Bridges. Their defensive effort was arguably the strongest it has been all season, and the defense led to very fluid offense for New York.
The Knicks bench put in phenomenal performances
The Knicks bench continued their recent stretch of solid play against the Grizzlies. Miles McBride was a huge spark off the bench with 14 points and three steals. He put the exclamation point on this game with an emphatic poster dunk over Jay Huff in garbage time, which set the Madison Square Garden crowd into a frenzy.
Achiuwa added 14 points off his own to go along with the strong defensive effort. Like McBride, Achiuwa was playing with pure aggression and threw down a pair of contact dunks as well. He showcased a dominant display on both ends and provided high-quality minutes for New York.
Cameron Payne only played 16 minutes in this one, but he made the most of them. He scored 11 points and was a +17 on the night. He helped the Knicks pull away early in the fourth quarter with a few tough baskets inside the paint.
Overall, New York scored 52 bench points, which is more than double their season average for bench points. Getting those types of contributions from the reserves was huge for the Knicks, as Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were able to rest for the entire fourth quarter as the rest of the guys dominated.
Overview
The Knicks finally got themselves a win against one of the league’s top teams, and they did so with one of their best performances of the season. This is the second time in franchise history that New York scored 140 or more points in back-to-back games, with the other occurrence being in the 1965-66 season.
New York will now get ready to take another top team in the West as the Denver Nuggets come to town on Wednesday.