MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s becoming increasingly clear: The Knicks are better without Tracy McGrady, whose breaking down by the game.
With McGrady out and Bill Walker in, the Knicks staged a spirited fourth-quarter rally slicing a 23-point deficit to five points in the final minute before falling 119-112 to the Grizzlies at FedEx Forum.
In falling to 3-9 since the Feb. 18 trades, McGrady showed alarmingly no life again last night, scoring four points on 1 of 5 shooting with three turnovers before sitting the fourth quarter.
“I just don’t think he has his legs right now,” coach Mike D’Antoni said.
Walker scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth to lead the surge. The Grizzlies led by 29 in the third quarter.
McGrady admitted his left knee is in pain and is just trying to fight through the soreness he believes is a natural occurrence because he is coming off microfracture surgery one year ago.
“Maintaining, just trying to maintain,” McGrady said. “It’s catching up to me. I can feel myself breaking down. That’s why it’s so hard for me to attack the basket.”
McGrady was a minus-21 in 24 minutes. In his previous three appearances, McGrady scored six points, two points and 13 points. And in the game he missed, the Knicks beat Atlanta.
The reeling Knicks were blasted in the first half and team president Donnie Walsh — perhaps unable to bear to watch — left his seat late in the first half with the club down 21.