The Knicks found themselves up big over one of the best teams in the NBA in the Memphis Grizzlies, only to blow the lead late and ultimately fall. But are the Grizzlies perhaps a more attainable goal for the Knicks in the near future than we give them credit for?

Lydia Davis once wrote a two-part story, “Reversible Story.” Part one tells a story; part two keeps much of the language while telling the story backwards:

NECESSARY EXPENDITURE

A concrete mixer has come and gone from the house next door. Mr. and Mrs. Charray are renovating their wine cellar. If they improve their cellar, they will pay less for fire insurance. At the moment, their fire insurance is very expensive. The reason for this is that they own thousands of bottles of very good wine. They have very good wine and some fine paintings, but their taste in clothes and furniture is strictly lower middle class.

EXPENDITURE NECESSARY

The Charrays’ taste in clothes and furniture is dull and strictly lower middle class. However, they do own some fine paintings, many by contemporary Canadian and American painters. They also have some good wine. In fact, they own thousands of bottles of very good wine. Because of this, their fire insurance is very expensive. But if they enlarge and otherwise improve their wine cellar, the fire insurance will be less expensive. They are doing this: a concrete mixer has just come and gone from their house, next door.

I love this work by Davis because it reminds us nothing is context-neutral. When you begin a story talking about a concrete mixer and end with a shot at someone’s class, it’s clearly a negative tone. The “however” in the second story is doing a lot of work, turning what initially sounds like slander into praising someone for climbing the social ladder. Similar content + different context = opposing takeaways.

So what to make of the New York Knicks losing 118-114 in Memphis last night? On the one hand, it was an L we’re more familiar with of late than we care to be. New York rode an impressive third quarter to a 15-point lead late in the frame. But a couple of gaffes in defensive transition let Memphis close with six unanswered, and while the Knicks held on for dear life in the fourth, they didn’t have enough _______ to pull off the win. The league’s leading shot-blocking team at six per game, the Grizz stuffed the Knicks 16 times. That plus Ja was all they’d need.

What goes in the blank? “Talent”? “Chutzpah”? “Energy”? I dunno. I did find my reaction to this fourth quarter collapse to be many leagues removed from my feelings a week ago when they blew games like this to Philadelphia and Phoenix. A three-game winning streak hath charm to soothe the savage beast of a season gone off the rails; I was disappointed by the loss, but not irked. I consider this a moral victory. What gives? Why the 180? The opponent provides a clue.

The Grizzlies have the league’s second-best record and are in the running for the most wins in a season in franchise history, athletically gifted up and down the roster, best exemplified by the league’s latest superstar darling, Ja Morant, he of the 48-inch vertical. They’re one of the few teams with cap space this summer, and in addition to owning all their own first-round picks this decade, they could pick up two additional firsts this summer (from the Lakers and Jazz) as well as a Golden State first as early as 2024. 

Last year was the Knicks’ first postseason appearance since 2013; the Grizz have earned five playoff berths since then, with this year being the sixth. They are very much a house in order, and in many ways none of what I’ve listed in this paragraph applies to the Knicks. But there is a connection.

These are the ages of the 10 Grizzlies to play last night: 20, 22, 22, 23, 23, 25, 25, 25, 28, 28. That doesn’t include 26-year-old Dillon Brooks, a key member of the team last seen in action before Christmas who’s expected to rejoin them on their road trip beginning tomorrow. The Knicks? 21, 21, 22, 23, 23, 27, 29, 30, 36. Not the same, but not dissimilar. Memphis is what New York wants to be: young and exciting and must-see and good. 

But how many of the Grizzlies players from this game would be considered can’t-miss All-NBA types? Ja, duh. Jaren Jackson Jr.? He’s a defensive positive and there’s more to life than counting stats, but a dude in his fourth season who’s never averaged 18 points or six rebounds a game? Who shot 38% on 3-pointers his first two seasons, yet even after last night’s 2-4 from deep is only making 31% since? Who was the fourth pick in his draft but ranks fifth in win shares among bigs from that class, including about half as many as Mitchell Robinson despite playing more minutes? The Grizz have one superstar and a host of intriguing interstellar objects that reflect light beautifully, but maybe don’t generate their own.

How many Knicks are All-NBA caliber? Randle, you’d have to say, because he literally was last year. His strong recently play continued, at least over the first three quarters; he finished with 36 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and two steals. RJ Barrett keeps allowing fans to imagine his ceiling as both higher than we’ve yet to see and reasonably within reach, even if he is still a ways away. It’s a credit to his growth that a 23-point, seven-rebound effort was a ho-hum night for him.

Whatever vantage you bring to last night’s loss will determine what you saw. If you view Memphis as a finished project and New York as one, too, this was a disheartening defeat that kept the Knicks from clinching a winning record on the road trip that was expected to bury their slim playoff lives. Or you could see it this way: 80% of New York’s minutes went to players younger than 30. For whatever worth single game plus/minus numbers have, it’s at least not a negative that Randle and Barrett between them averaged about 30, 10 and four to go along with positive ratings for each. When the Knicks fell to third in the 2019 lottery, everyone knew it meant no Zion. That was disappointing. For the past few years, RJ’s also been no Ja. Now, as Morant’s ascended to a place in the pantheon, the fact that RJ isn’t him or Zion no longer means what it used to. RJ is RJ, a wonderful basketball player who continues to develop and gives the vibe of a dude who intends to wring every ounce of the best there is inside him. 

Despite playing well enough to win, the Knicks lost. They, like Memphis, are a young team with one exciting young prodigy and a co-star who no one knows what to trust as far as their ceiling. Read this game from the Grizzlies’ perspective and it’s a comeback win over a team they should beat before they go on the road and try to maintain the second seed in the West. It bodes well for them. Read it from the Knicks’ point of view and it’s a close call against a team no one thought they’d hang with near the end of a seven-game road trip that for a while felt like a Requiem mass (no Kyrie in this mass, though). Six games in the play-in is no closer, but the feeling that the team is on the right path is stronger than it’s been in a while. The order of the story matters with a loss like this one. For some teams, to struggle is to fail. For the Knicks, to struggle is to grow; for them, growth, ultimately, is success.