The Memphis Grizzlies fell to the New York Knicks 130-119 on Wednesday night at FedExForum, dropping their sixth straight game in the series despite a strong second-half push.
A disastrous first quarter proved too much to overcome for the Memphis Grizzlies, who fell to the New York Knicks, 130-119, on Wednesday night at FedExForum, extending their losing streak in the series to six games.
Memphis dug itself an 18-point hole by the end of the first quarter, allowing 48 points on 81% shooting as the Knicks attacked the paint early and often. The Grizzlies never led, and despite winning three of the final three quarters, could not make up enough ground.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo acknowledged the rough start but was encouraged by how his team responded.
"It's not often that you look up at the scoreboard, have an offensive rating of 130, and are down by 20 in the first half," Iisalo said. "That happened today. I was very happy with how our guys responded."
GG Jackson led Memphis with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with four assists. Olivier-Maxence Prosper contributed 17 points, two steals, and a block in 24 minutes, and Cedric Coward finished with 15 points. Javon Small added 13 off the bench, while Adama Bal chipped in 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep.
Cam Spencer finished with 10 points and a team-high eight assists. Taylor Hendricks did not play due to left fifth finger soreness.
Memphis pulled within nine by the end of the third quarter after trailing by 17 at halftime. Iisalo said the halftime message wasn't about drawing up anything new.
"At halftime, we discussed whether we actually needed to make adjustments, or if the adjustment was simply doing the things we agreed to do -- just doing them better and harder," Iisalo said. "We certainly did that in the second half."
Memphis generated 17 fast-break points and moved the ball effectively in the second half, but the offensive glass kept killing rallies. New York grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and turned them into 27 second-chance points -- 10 more than Memphis's margin of defeat.
"Rebounding remains a big issue for us," Iisalo said. "Today, we lost second-chance points by 21 in a game we lost by 11. In all other areas, we made a lot of progress, which is encouraging."
OG Anunoby took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 17 of his game-high 25 points in the final frame to push New York back to a double-digit lead. Karl-Anthony Towns posted a 20-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double for the Knicks, who played without Jalen Brunson due to right ankle soreness.
Iisalo picked up a technical foul with 8:01 left in the fourth quarter, and said he had no regrets about it.
"In that situation, I felt like we were getting the short end of the stick," Iisalo said. "The game became very physical. I thought our speed gave them problems, and their response seemed to be grabbing and holding. We had already used two challenges on calls where we were right, so we didn't have a third one. In that moment, I felt it was important to stand up for the team."
Memphis falls to 25-51 and hosts the Toronto Raptors on Friday.