It looked like a done deal at the end of the third quarter, but man did the Knicks make it interesting. The Grizzlies survived a 39 point fourth quarter from the Knicks last night and held on to win their third in a row, 119-112.
Just like their previous game in Boston, the Grizzlies jumped out to an early lead and held it for most of the game. They were up eight after the first, up 13 at half time, and led by as much as 29 in the third quarter. Then things started to break down.
The Grizz built the lead off dominant rebounding, smart shots and very tough defense. Going into half time the Knicks were shooting 36% from the floor, and the Grizzlies held a 15-2 fastbreak advantage. The Knicks just couldn’t do anything.
“Unbelievable defense in the first half. Unbelievable defense in the second half,” Lionel Hollins said after the game. “One was positive one was negative.”
The second half defensive breakdown resulted in the most second half points (70) scored by a Grizzlies’ opponent in FedExForum this season, and the most points given up by the Grizzlies in the fourth quarter (39).
But it was the big nights from Randolph (24), Mayo (22) Gay (20) and Mike Conley (18) that had the Grizz up big by the time the run started.
The Grizz did not finish as strongly as they did in Boston, but they started strong enough to hang on for the win.
The Grizzlies Sold Sam Young Jerseys Last night
Well, I would think so anyway. We definitely saw a guy with a custom Sam Young Jersey just after Young had scored 9 of his eventual 13 points. Young was everywhere during the first half, including one possession in which Young made a layup and drew a foul, missed his free throw, got the rebound off the free throw, passed the ball off, got the ball back on the wing, then charged at the basket for a dunk… which he missed. Oh well, nobody’s perfect.
Young, Marcus Williams and DaMarre Carroll were again productive off the bench, with the group scoring 23 points, grabbing 13 boards and adding 6 assists. Hasheem Thabeet played two minutes – finished with a block and a lot of zeroes.
Dunk of the Game
I’m going with Sam Young, who got another chance to jam the ball home in the second and didn’t miss this time. Honorable mention goes to Mike Conley, who didn’t dunk, but dished out two of his six assists on two of the Grizzlies’ four dunks of the night.
Dunk Count: 4; Young -1 Gasol – 1, Mayo -1, Gay -1,
You Had to Be There
A Grizzlies possession in the second quarter featured four consecutive offensive rebounds, three straight inside shots and no calls, until a foul was finally called after Marc Gasol was manhandled under the bucket. Despite the Grizz lead sitting at 23, the small crowd (announced at just over 12K) gave the team a standing ovation just before Gasol sank two free throws. Even in the blowout the fans were loving it.
Twitter Watch
Nothing after the game. Seriously. Nothing. Unless you follow Marcus Williams. His tweets are protected so you’ll have to get them for yourself.
Final Shots
Grizzlies PA announcer Rick Trotter was not with the team, and will miss the rest of the season for personal reasons. The Commercial Appeal reported that it is not a health issue. The Grizzlies radio pre-game and halftime host, Ken Kincaid, ran the PA last night and will continue to do so for the rest of the season. Rick Trotter had sung the National Anthem at the last Grizzlies’ home win against the Nets, now his last of the season. A five-year-old patient at St. Jude sang yesterday’s national anthem. Former Ole Miss and Saints star Deuce McAllister was in the house to shoot the “celebrity prize cannon.” Grizzlies’ MC Ashley referred to Mike Conley as “Sean Conley,” Conley responded by scoring 18. David Lee threw an inbounds pass directly at Lionel Hollins, causing the coach to nearly get run over by, again, Mike Conley, who was diving for the errant throw. Grizzlies have won eight of their last 10 games against eastern conference teams. The losses both came at home during the Grizz home losing streak of February.
The Grizzlies next game is tonight against Denver. Nuggets coach George Karl will not be with the team. Karl is battling throat cancer.
Follow Doug Gillon (that's me!) on twitter during the games for updates and insight.
