Coming into this home stand against some of the Western Conference’s best the New York Knicks were playing average basketball.
6-6 in January, a perfectly pedestrian 0.0 net rating over those 12 games, and an inconsistency that profiled more as second round and out than genuine title contender.
In a long season inevitably filled with ups and downs two games probably shouldn’t change your opinion of a team, but if two games could break that rule we just saw them.
Fresh off decimating the hottest team in basketball the Knicks took on a Memphis Grizzlies side that boasted the Association’s longest winning streak, top-six units on both sides of the ball, and the league’s most dominant starting lineup (in a small sample size to be fair) and crushed them 143 to 106.
Given the caliber of opponent, it was not only the Knicks’ best game of the season but perhaps one of the best regular season outings in franchise history.
It was the first time since 1965 that they’ve scored over 140 points in back-to-back games (both games were top 15 scoring performances in team history) they easily set a season-high with 52 bench points and their 20 steals were remarkably just two off a franchise record set in 1987.
Here’s how they got it done.
Magnificent Mikal
On sheer electric shotmaking alone Mikal Bridges’ 41-point Christmas Day performance against the Spurs has to go down as his best game of the season. This was a close second.
Bridges’ early season was defined by his struggles navigating screens against the league’s most explosive guards on defense and an utter inability to get to the basket on offense. He was special in both those areas against the Grizzlies.
Bridges expertly harrassed Ja Morant all night, pinning a layup on the backboard, contesting a would-be short pull-up to the point he’d rather throw the ball away than attempt the shot, and just generally making the most athletic point guard in the league miserable. Morant finished with just 10 points on 5/13 shooting, no free throws, and perhaps most importantly just two assists.
Offensively Bridges was just as good.
I’ve argued all season long that it’s essential that Tom Thibodeau give him more time on the ball. If the Knicks want to achieve their goals, it can’t be Jalen Brunson or nothing in terms of shot creation. Last night was a step in the right direction as Bridges had one of his highest usage games of the season.
He initiated multiple possessions, a DHO from KAT into a screen from Precious Achuiwa and his second fadeaway of the game over the Leaning Tower Of Edey and another one where the Knicks let him operate out of a horns set to get downhill on Desmond Bane for a baseline fadeaway.
He was able to supplement his on-ball work by attacking the Grizzlies off the catch when they were already in rotation for multiple assists, his usual off-ball brilliance, a few clinical spot-up threes, and a dominant outing in transition that evoked the preseason where some combination of the Villanova Trio were constantly hitting each other on down the court bombs.
Bench Explodes
On paper, the biggest mismatch in this one was the Grizzlies bench vs. the Knicks bench. Memphis came into the game as the NBA’s 2nd highest-scoring bench while New York was the league’s lowest.
What a night to flip the switch.
Paced by Deuce McBride and Achiuwa’s combined 28 points and ridiculous 10 stocks the Knicks’ bench was dominant on both ends of the floor.
McBride’s ability to get downhill (cornated by a vicious one-handed flush in garbage time) and Achiuwa’s multiple highlights as a one-man fast break stood out.
As did Cam Payne’s three straight layups to break the Grizzlies’ will after they cut the Knicks’ lead to just 16 early in the fourth quarter.
Don’t look now but the Knicks are all the way up to 7th in bench net rating. And both Bridges and OG Anunoby (who had a casual six-steal performance while utterly locking up Jaren Jackson Jr. on multiple drives) looked far fresher after a three-day rest and low minutes in back-to-back games.
It’s almost like Tom Thibodeau should trust his bench for this team to reach its’ ceiling?
Nah that’s crazy.
For more insights and a deeper dive into the Knicks’ dominant performance, tune into the Locked On Knicks podcast for this and much more.
Other Topics in Today’s Locked On Knicks Podcast:
• Karl-Anthony Towns’ second-half resurgence
• The impact of the Knicks’ bench unit
• Looking ahead to upcoming challenges against Western Conference opponents
