MEMPHIS — Matt Barnes approached the scorer’s table midway through the first quarter, and the crowd at FedEx Forum erupted. Barnes was simply checking into Saturday night’s game for the Memphis Grizzlies, but given his sordid history with the man standing no more than 15 feet away, in front of the opposing bench, it felt like so much more.
Barnes, a forward, did not say anything to Derek Fisher, the coach of the Knicks, as he strode onto the court. He did not even glance in Fisher’s direction. It was, all things considered, an anticlimactic entrance after more than three months of words and warnings, all of them uttered by Barnes.