Despite 22 turnovers, the Knicks, without Jalen Brunson, got help up and down their lineup and beat the Memphis Grizzlies 104-96 on Saturday night.
Here are the takeaways...
- Making his first start of the season, and just the fifth start of his career in the wake of Brunson’s calf injury, Miles “Deuce” McBride got off to a hot start, sinking two threes in the first quarter to pull New York in front of Memphis after falling to an early deficit.
- Julius Randle was the game’s leading scorer in the opening 12 minutes after scoring 11 points by driving to the basket and making free throws. Still, the Grizzlies led after the first quarter 27-25 thanks to Vince Williams Jr.’s 10 points and four turnovers by the Knicks – a theme of the night.
- Malachi Flynn, who came over from Toronto in the OG Anunoby trade, scored his first basket with his new club in the first quarter and kept it going into the second quarter. Flynn added seven more points to give the Knicks a nice boost off the bench.
In his 10 minutes played, Flynn finished with nine points on an efficient 4-of-5 from the field (1-for-2 from three) to go along with three assists, one rebound and a steal.
- New York had the lead for most of the second but coughed it up late in the quarter, despite outrebounding Memphis 27-17.
Randle, who was dominant in the first quarter, disappeared in the second and scored just two points. He did have eight rebounds before the break but also had four giveaways to lead the team. The Knicks had 14 turnovers at halftime which was the biggest reason why the Grizzlies entered the locker room with a 57-53 lead as both teams were shooting the ball at roughly the same percentage.
- McBride kept doing his thing in the second and went into halftime with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting (3-for-3 from three), three assists, two rebounds and a block. As the starting point guard, he also had just two turnovers.
- In the second half, New York stormed out and quickly retook the lead at the start of the third quarter. Randle got back on track offensively with Anunoby and Donte DiVincenzo helping out as well.
- Head coach Tom Thibodeau must’ve talked to his team at halftime about securing the ball because the team had just one turnover in the third quarter and it happened with less than 10 seconds left in the quarter.
- The Knicks outscored the Grizzlies 30-15 in the third quarter and had an 83-72 lead entering the fourth quarter where things remained the same.
- Randle finished with a game-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds for a double-double. Isaiah Hartenstein also had a double-double with 12 points and 20 rebounds. New York outrebounded Memphis 56-35.
- McBride scored a career-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists as the Knicks didn’t skip a beat in their first game this season without Brunson.