Grizzlies at Knicks
The New York Knicks got a good look at just how far away they are from being the kind of super team that can challenge in the Eastern Conference when they were crushed at Cleveland on opening night. The Knicks will try to find some of the chemistry they were lacking and put one in the win column when they host the Memphis Grizzlies in the home opener on Saturday.
New York made big changes to the roster and the coaching staff with the hiring of Jeff Hornacek and deals for Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Brandon Jennings and Courtney Lee and ended up with more turnovers (18) than assists (17) in the 117-88 thrashing at the Cavaliers on Tuesday. "I got to find a way," Rose told reporters of getting used to the triangle offense. "There's no way around it. I got to find a way, and I'm going to find a way. That's what being great is all about." The Grizzlies made Mike Conley the highest-paid player in NBA history over the summer and got 24 points - seven in the final three minutes - from the veteran point guard in Wednesday's 102-98 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. "I’ve got guys here who are not afraid and have done it on a high level," Memphis coach David Fizdale told reporters. "That gives me a lot of peace knowing that I have guys I can go to when the game gets tight from multiple areas."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Memphis), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (1-0): Memphis was missing two projected starters with Tony Allen (knee) and Chandler Parsons (knee) out for the opener but stayed committed to using 35-year-old power forward Zach Randolph off the bench. Randolph responded with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes but was left out of the action during crunch time, when Fizdale went with JaMychal Green in the frontcourt. Green, who came up with a key defensive play on a block down the stretch, recorded 12 points and seven rebounds and buried both of his 3-point attempts in the opener.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (0-1): The triangle offense and how much it will be employed by Hornacek and how comfortable Rose will be running it has been a constant topic of conversation over the summer, but Hornacek and Rose downplayed the idea that the triangle was holding the team back. "This is the first game, but we have a lot of room to improve," Rose told reporters. "Just the offense. with me, of course, I want pick-and-roll every time down. But with the triangle, with the auto, towards the end, when you saw us running it, it was just us trying to get used to it so it’s not that foreign." Noah and Lee both started and both went scoreless in their debuts while Jennings went 1-of-7 from the field off the bench.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Parsons and Allen aren't expected to play until next week at the earliest.
2. Rose scored 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting and recorded four turnovers with one assist in his New York debut.
3. Memphis took the last six in the series by an average of 11.7 points.