New York Knicks: 6 takeaways from an opening night loss

The Knicks couldn’t stop Morant and co.

As mentioned before, Barrett could not stop Morant. It looked as if Morant was playing at a different speed than the Canadian forward, easily getting past him and slicing into the paint. In addition to his 34 points, Morant shot 50% from three, which is a scary sight to see.

Last year he only shot 34% from behind the arc. If Morant can develop into an above-average three-point shooter, he could make yet another leap as a player.

As a whole, the Grizzlies team greatly outshot the Knicks from three, almost doubling their makes, 9 to 17. Desmond Bane, Santi Aldama, John Konchar, and Tyus Jones all had three or more makes from downtown.

Coach Tom Thibodeau needs to make adjustments before the Knicks’ next matchup. New York gave up seemingly endless open looks from behind the arc, it’s a miracle that Memphis couldn’t capitalize on even more attempts.

Don’t give up hope, this team fights

Although a loss is obviously not ideal, the Knicks showed that they have some fight in them. At a point in the third quarter, the Grizzlies had a 19-point lead, but New York refused to go away. They closed the gap and a Cam Reddish three forced overtime, on a great drawn-up play by Thibodeau.

Although in the end, they were unable to force a second overtime, Evan Fournier missed the tying, contested corner three, this Knicks team showed they will not just roll over.

The Knicks will look to bounce back in their home opener against the Detroit Pistons, a much easier task.