Petre Thomas | USA TODAY Sports

Five takeaways from the Knicks115-112 overtime loss at the Grizzlies in Wednesday’s season opener:

Early foul trouble for Brunson. In his Knick debut, Memphis got Brunson off the court quickly. He was tagged with two fouls before the midway point of the first, prompting rising Knick star Immanuel Quickley (no pun intended from the previous sentence) to come off the bench. However, Quickley didn’t have a great start either, missing his first five attempts from the field. By night’s end, Brunson poured in 15 points and a team-best nine assists.

Poor defense. On numerous occasions, the Grizzlies were left more or less completely uncontested from behind the arc, a product of both great Memphis ball movement but also a lagging Knicks defense. The Grizz ended the game with 17 makes from deep. Memphis’ potency from deep put New York in an early hole, which the offense roared back from but still ultimately fell short. Still, Memphis’ early hot hand from three saw the Knicks enter the half trailing by 15.

Big man off the bench. After spending the past several seasons across four teams, Isaiah Hartenstein made his Knicks debut last night. The seven-footer impressed down low, after not being too involved early in the game. He had a beautiful dime to Obi Toppin early in the second quarter for a typical Toppin slam. Hopefully a sign of things to come, he finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Evan Fournier. A weapon from three point land last season, Evan Fournier continued to excel from deep in the season opener, scoring 12 of his 14 total points from that range. Outside of some of the Knicks main stars, Fournier has the potential to be one of the Knicks most effective players this year. His attempt to tie the game at the end of OT almost went through, but clanked off the rim as the Knicks fell in heartbreaking fashion.

Lights, Cam, action. Reddish impressed greatly off the bench, bringing some needed energy late in the game and overall contributing 22 points, on 9-for-15 shooting, including the game-tying three-pointer with a few seconds left in the fourth to send the game to overtime. Reddish and Quickley off the bench should be a great duo as the season develops.

Second-half surge. Hopefully, this trend is something we’ll come to see often with these Knicks this season (if they can close out games completely). New York began the second half sluggish, but gradually, timely buckets from the backcourt, and Randle dominating down low as well, saw the Grizzlies lead evaporate, as the Knicks came from 19 down to take a one point lead with under four minutes remaining in regulation. Ultimately, the Grizzlies clawed this game out, exposing the Knicks inability to truly complete comebacks and closeout games when it matters most – a common theme of last season.

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