Game Thread: New York Knicks vs Memphis Grizzlies 7:30pm 2/5/2016

Not long ago Marc Gasol was slumping, Jeff Green was an afterthought off the bench and the Memphis Grizzlies were the worst offensive team in the Western Conference.

Now Gasol and Green are thriving with Memphis in the midst of a historic scoring run.

The reeling New York Knicks had no answer for Gasol last month and will face him Friday night after a difficult loss in the first of back-to-back games. They're looking to avoid a sixth straight loss in this series and deny the visiting Grizzlies their longest winning streak in a year.

Memphis was averaging a West-low 95.9 points per game before averaging 105.8 while scoring at least 100 in regulation over nine straight games for the first time in its history.

Green was scoring 10.4 per game heading into that stretch after totaling seven points on 2-of-13 shooting over a two-game span. He's since averaged 19.3 while hitting 15 of 34 from 3-point range in the last nine and 26.0 on 62.9 percent shooting over his past four.

Green led the way with 24 points, former Knick Zach Randolph had 22 and 12 rebounds and Mike Conley scored 17 with 10 assists in Monday's 110-95 win at New Orleans.

Memphis shot a season-high 60.6 percent en route to its 10th win in 12 games. It's looking to win five in a row for the first time since an eight-game run from Jan. 21-Feb. 4, 2015.

"We have a lot of guys really contributing to what we're doing," guard Vince Carter said. "Guys are just playing hard and letting it all hang out for the good of the team."

Gasol, who had 14 points, averaged just 9.5 with a 26.3 field-goal percentage over a four-game stretch before scoring 20.4 on 50.6 percent in his past 10.

The two-time All-Star center was nearly unstoppable against the Knicks on Jan. 16, finishing with 37 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in a 103-95 home win.

Memphis (29-20) has won five in a row during its longest winning streak in this series, which includes two victories at Madison Square Garden by a combined 29 points. Green has averaged 21.3 points in his last four meetings dating to his time with Boston.

Conley, who did not play in the January win due to a sore left Achilles, has totaled 16 points on 7-of-28 shooting in his last two games at MSG.

The Grizzlies have a chance to extend their surge against a New York team that has allowed 107.9 points over its last 13 games. The Knicks (23-29) rallied from 27 points down and took the lead with 2:14 left Thursday before running out of gas in a 111-105 loss at Detroit.

"We dug ourselves the kind of hole where everything has to go right for you to have a chance," coach Derek Fisher said.

Robin Lopez set season highs with 26 points and 16 boards in New York's third straight defeat and seventh in eight games. Arron Afflalo had 24 points and Carmelo Anthony, who missed the first meeting with Memphis, added 19, 11 rebounds and eight assists but missed 14 of 18 shots.

Matt Barnes is questionable for the Grizzlies after sitting Monday due to a pulled hamstring. He stayed away from Fisher last month after the NBA had suspended Barnes for two games for his role in a physical altercation and threatening the coach in October.

(nba.com)

Melo and Thomas out tonight... Looks like we be losing 6 of 7... Or... 7 of 8... Whatever it is... We be sinkin' like the Titanic.

Even without Melo and Thomas, no reason we can't compete on our own home court despite the odds being against us.

After last night's game with the miserable 1st half and mostly very good 2nd half, for tonight's game, I am prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best.

Looks like after a long stretch of very active game forums, everyone on KOL has collectively had enough with this team.

We're down by 10 at the half, but it's worth noting we led by 3 in the 2nd quarter before Memphis went on an extended run to outscore us by 13 before the half.

We CAN win this game. We need a bunch of guys to step up though and play with a sense of desperation.

More of the same... Guards stink (AA and Jose have 4 TO to 2 assist; Galloway and Grant combine for 1 point but do have 5 assists)...

As a team... Knicks have 7 assist and 8 turnovers.

It's reverting back to last year now... Almost unbearable to watch. We can only pray changes are coming at trade deadline...

Only reason why we aren't down by 30 is b/c MEM is treating this game as an exhibition... Taking a night off. Saving their legs.

Not sure the exact reason for it, but instead of going straight to the halftime report, they are televising the band playing halftime for the MSG crowd. Kind of a cool idea, although they might just be doing it because they figure people are tired of hearing about this team.

mafra said:

More of the same... Guards stink (AA and Jose have 4 TO to 2 assist; Galloway and Grant combine for 1 point but do have 5 assists)...

As a team... Knicks have 7 assist and 8 turnovers.

It's reverting back to last year now... Almost unbearable to watch. We can only pray changes are coming at trade deadline...

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You mean us buying or selling at the trade deadline? I'm all for moving some contracts, but I don't think we have the expendable assets to try to make a splash as far as additions to this roster.

htr10 said:

You mean us buying or selling at the trade deadline? I'm all for moving some contracts, but I don't think we have the expendable assets to try to make a splash as far as additions to this roster.

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Sellers. We clearly have 0 assets to bring in anything even remotely Inpactful. We have to dump Calderon's 2017 contract. I would trade Grant or Galloway just to dump that contract... Hope Affalo, Williams, Lioez can fetch you something... Pray Melo asks out and we can trade him too... Porzingis and Thomas are my only untouchable (but I would deal LT too if it mean a young asset or potential lottery pick).

NYK have 0 steals and 0 blocks... Really efforting tonight... It looks like this team is quitting on Fisher.

I know people are very down on this team, myself included, but this has turned into a fun game to watch. We are playing well and in particular, Calderon is having a great game. Down by 2 late in the 3rd quarter.

Well, we tied the game back up, but Memphis ran off a quick 7 points to close the quarter and we are down by 7 going into the 4th. We can still steal this game. Some guys other than Calderon need to step up.

mafra said:

Sellers. We clearly have 0 assets to bring in anything even remotely Inpactful. We have to dump Calderon's 2017 contract. I would trade Grant or Galloway just to dump that contract... Hope Affalo, Williams, Lioez can fetch you something... Pray Melo asks out and we can trade him too... Porzingis and Thomas are my only untouchable (but I would deal LT too if it mean a young asset or potential lottery pick).

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If we're talking about acquiring 1st round picks or good young players, then I'm all for it. But if we are just going to do another round of complicated salary dumps, unless PJ somehow knows a big free agent wants to come here next offseason, I say just stand pat.

Chalmers should be ejected. Intentional elbow to Vujacic's face well after the play was over.

Can't score here in the 4th quarter. Down 78 - 71 with 5 minutes to go. Someone needs to get hot or this one is over.

Our guys refusing to be put away. Porzingis 3, Porzingis block on Gasol, and Afflalo jumper to bring us back within 3.

Afflalo corner 3-pointer makes this a 2 point game with 37 seconds to go. Now we need a huge stop.

Don't get that sequence. We get the huge stop, but then with still over 6 seconds to go, Afflalo pulls up for the contested jumper which rims out. Green then hits 2 free throws to make the lead 4 with 6 seconds to go.

On the replay, that was a good move by Afflalo. He got himself open against Green. The shot just rimmed out. Only problem if he had made it would have been that Memphis would have had too much time left to get the lead back. Tough loss.

Affalo had another horrible game... He's 4-15... I don't need him shooting a shot with the game on the line. How are we building for the future when we basically played AA and Calderon the entire game?

Even a coach on life support would call a timeout when NYm got ball with 17 seconds and down 2 points. Building for the future is a decent HC actually drawing up a play to et the future of your franchise experience in these late-game, clutch situations.

Taking the worst shot in BBall (a long 2 point shot) that would only tie the game... Just shows you where ISO-Affalo's head is at.

I'm sorry... Our guards are worst in Western Hemisphere, so watching a game where we go with a 3-guard lineup for basically 38 of 48 minutes... Watching Calderon just hand the ball to MEM 5 times... Enduring long stretches of ugly BBall as AA, JC, LG dance around the perimeter... Ugh.

Not only was this another loss... But this does nothing for our future. It's getting to be just like the Walsh-D'antoni days where vets come here and selfishly look to post numbers to get another contract someplace else...

Grant and Williams and KP should be getting big minutes and be in the game down the stretch. We're losing anyway... Must we watch AA miss 11 shots?

There was a stretch in the third quarter... For about 5-6 minutes... We had 3 guards... Nobody would pass the ball to KP. Just a waste.

And Grant doesn't bong in the NBA right now... But I still would prefer playing him over AA and JC. Still, this looks like this bust will burn NYK for years to come... Lots of quality players went after we took JG, and with no draft pick this year... It's evident we are well on our way to ensure we never surround KP with another star.

Porzingis at least showed life and hit a few shots in the 4th... But he also missed 3-4 big shots down the stretch, including missing a dunk on an alley-oop, and then had an ugly turnover.