NEW YORK — When Jalen Brunson went out for his pregame workout, he tested the right quadriceps contusion that had kept him out of practice Saturday and declared himself ready to play, putting the Knicks' roster at full strength
With Ja Morant and the Grizzlies awaiting them, having as many healthy bodies as they could muster seemed like a good idea. But they came up short in a 127-123 loss to Memphis on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks fought gamely to stay in it, coming back from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit and even taking a 123-122 lead with 26.3 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Brunson.
Ja Morant then cut to the rim on a give-and-go (leaving Cam Reddish in his wake), went up, spun and put up a shot that Mitchell Robinson blocked from behind. But the 6-2 Morant grabbed the loose ball and hit the easy layup to put Memphis ahead by one with 13.9 seconds left.
Brunson, who managed to play most of the game after being questionable until game time, missed a pull-up jumper from just inside the free-throw line with 9.8 seconds left. Morant made the first of two free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining but missed the second, leaving Memphis ahead 125-123. Brunson then missed a driving floater with 1.6 seconds left and Jaren Jackson Jr. hit two free throws to clinch it.
Brunson finished with 30 points and nine assists — including 17 points in the fourth quarter — but would be left to wonder about the shots that missed. RJ Barrett added 22 points.
Morant had 27 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies. Dillon Brooks added 23 points and Jackson had 21.
The game resembled a street fight at times. Reddish was hit with a technical foul as he swung his arm at Brooks. Julius Randle went nose-to-nose with Santi Aldama. Immanuel Quickley went limping to the locker room and couldn’t return.
But when it mattered most, it wasn’t the hard fouls or battles in the paint that the Knicks had to overcome as much as the jaw-dropping athleticism of Morant. Whether it was hanging in the air as defenders surrendered to gravity around him, slipping through a maze of Knicks grasping at air or smoothly dropping in jumpers and finding open teammates, Morant simply took over.
“The speed is what — the way he plays, it’s so unique,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Morant before the game. “They play fast. Makes, misses, he’s a one-man fast break. Just creates a lot of easy scoring opportunities. Very dynamic, unselfish, and he shoots the ball well. Obviously, he gets to the rim. First step, a guy like that, you have to guard with your team. You can never let your guard down.”
The Knicks responded every time it looked as if they were fading. Brunson hit a three-pointer with 1:40 left to pull them within one and Barrett connected on a tough drive in traffic the next time down to make it a one-point game again.
With the Knicks fully healthy for the first time all season, it became a watch-and-see experiment to see how Thibodeau would utilize his deep roster. While he has spoken of a desire to limit his rotation to nine players, he went 11 deep in the first quarter alone.
The one spot that Thibodeau seemed determined not to mix and match was who was going to be the primary defender on Morant. Quentin Grimes, who sat out the opening night matchup with the Grizzlies in Memphis, drew the assignment, and his time on the bench was designed to match Morant’s breaks.
Thibodeau opted to leave Grimes on the bench down the stretch and hand the assignment to Reddish. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, but Reddish, like most of the Knicks, could do nothing to deter Morant.
