The New York Knicks took on the Memphis Grizzlies on February 2, and while the game ended in a Grizzlies win, New York was able to avoid being the victim of what would’ve been one of the plays of the year.
In the closing minutes of the victory over the Knicks, Grizzlies star point guard Ja Morant tried to throw down one of the vicious dunks he’s becoming known for, but this one over Knicks center Mitchell Robinson didn’t connect.
It came very close, but the big man stood tall and stopped the athletic guard from scoring. You can take a look for yourself at how close the dunk came to going in, and even though it missed, there are few players in the league who can even pull a move like that off.
In the end, it was a foul on Robinson, even though he appeared to go straight up and block the shot.
Robinson, no slouch on the defensive end himself, was asked about the dunk attempt after the game, and he laughed it off.
Robinson Responds
To his credit, Robinson was able to stop the jam from going in, so he avoided being on a poster, but it came very close.
After laughing about the question, he gave a straight answer.
“I just went vertical,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens. I’ve seen a lot of videos.”
One of the most famous videos he could be referring to is the dunk over Kevin Love. That dunk didn’t go in either, but it definitely put the league on notice and showed Morant is capable of throwing it down on anybody. In fact, it seems like Morant is more willing to dunk on a player if they are a big man. The results are mixed, but it has shown he’s not afraid of anybody.
I was just waiting to see when he’d do that to me, and he tried it,” Robinson said.
At the end of the day, the dunk didn’t connect, but the Knicks still came away with a loss and they continued their slide out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Walker’s Struggles Continue
Kemba Walker, a new signing in the offseason, has had a lot of struggles this season. After struggling to start the year, he was eventually banished from the rotation completely.
When he came back, he had an explosive week where he had people wondering why he was ever benched in the first place. Fast forward to today and now it’s eight straight quarters without him scoring a point.
There were fears that Walker might be washed up at this point in his career, and people who believe that to be true are getting a lot of ammunition for that argument. At this point, it’s hard to even make an argument that Walker deserves to remain the starter, but the team doesn’t have many other options.
With no more home games until after the trade deadline, there’s a real possibility he has played his last game as a Knick at Madison Square Garden.
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