 | Amir Johnson, PF 20 MIN | 4-8 FG | 0-0 FT | 7 REB | 1 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 8 PTS | -2 +/-Knows Andrea Bargnani well and it showed early on with his highlight Statue of Liberty dunk on the pasta eating Knick. Shortly after though Bargs drove into Amir hard which had Johnson holding his shoulder afterward. But, like many of you say “we don’t need excuses” and our man Amir won’t bring any. He held Bargs at bay but was sapped with early fouls which kept him off the floor for big portions of the game. |  |
 | James Johnson, PF 33 MIN | 6-11 FG | 2-3 FT | 7 REB | 2 AST | 0 STL | 3 BLK | 3 TO | 14 PTS | +4 +/-Seriously can anyone jump as high as JJ from a standstill. At 3:31 of the second quarter he rebounded ball and took it the length of the court. Cleanthony Early got blocked by him twice in the first half (2 of JJ’s first half 3 blocks). At times it felt like there were two James Johnson’s on the floor he was EVERYWHERE. The 2 three balls he took early 3Q aren’t his shot but given how well he was doing everything else it’s hard to complain. He was the best player on the court AGAIN |  |
 | Jonas Valanciunas, C 28 MIN | 6-8 FG | 4-6 FT | 8 REB | 0 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 16 PTS | -6 +/-Looked early like he could dominate his counterparts getting easy rebounds, but he picked up 2 quick fouls sending him to the bench courtesy of the Italian we love to hate. The team finally starting going to him and Tony Brothers & crew responded by doling out 3 quick fouls which took him off the floor again. To Casey’s credit he sent JV back in, but playing with 5 fouls meant the big man was tentative on defense. He stayed in the game until 3:11 (when he fouled out) |  |
 | Greivis Vasquez, PG 34 MIN | 5-13 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 14 PTS | +4 +/-This opportunity to rest Lowry coincided with Vasquez desperately seeking to recover his gravy. Put up a few YOLO’s but for the most part mission complete. I wondered to myself as he fed Amir in the post if Jose was reminiscing on the side line “I used to do that” (poor guy) Two big 3’s by Gravy brought them back within 6 with time remaining. |  |
 | DeMar DeRozan, SG 40 MIN | 3-15 FG | 7-8 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 3 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 13 PTS | -1 +/-Um, missed 360 dunk … Embarrassing much? That will end up on Shaqtin a fool for sure. I was torn between thinking is he feeling that good? or he better bring it now and post some big numbers so “the dunk” isn’t what we focus on post game. He had 9 points at the half and provided essentially ZERO defense on Hardaway Jr. electing to go under screens (WHY?) One specific play in the 3Q where he went up in the paint (missed) for a contested shot and JV was just to his left wide open had me screaming at my TV : PASS THE BALL DeMar! Ditto for the 4Q when JV yelled for the ball and DeMar ignored him for a contested bad shot. I mean seriously at the end of the day forget the 3 of 15 that dunk said it all. Just after writing the above point, DD made his best move of the game stealing the ball and driving it hard to the basket then Patterson grabbed the rebound and scored to pull them within 2 with 33.2 seconds remaining. (still, it wasn’t enough to erase that missed dunk, his poor defense or worse his poor shot selection) |  |
 | Patrick Patterson, PF 28 MIN | 4-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 5 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 10 PTS | -6 +/-After going down on a play early left the floor limping (that knee still isn’t right) Hit two big threes at crucial moments in the game. |  |
 | Tyler Hansbrough, PF 9 MIN | 0-1 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 1 PTS | 0 +/-Hansbrough entered sporting a lovely red scratch line from his Ezeli encounter last night and immediately brought the Hansy touch to the floor, flailing about for rebounds and pushing his opponents out of the way. Shouldn’t we create some sort of key stone cop music for him at the ACC? Just saying |  |
 | Terrence Ross, SF 16 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 0 PTS | -14 +/-As much as we berate him for not attempting to drive he did so last night and he did it again tonight. He seems to (dare I say it) finally be understanding he won’t get the calls until he does it on a nightly basis. He made a huge gaffe at the end of 3Q by not going for the rebound, but watching the replay back it looks like he was preparing to jump when Thomas pushed him forward so I’ll cut him some slack. | |
 | Louis Williams, SG 33 MIN | 6-16 FG | 8-9 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 22 PTS | -4 +/-He must have heard that he dropped to third in the NBA for points off bench because he hoisted a couple of “no, no.. yes” shots. The fact remains Lou is going to shoot us into games and shoot us out of games on this night his 12 first half points helped bring us back from down 10. I can’t give him below a B- because he scored 22 points and had 2 rebounds and 3 assists |  |
 | Dwane Casey Glad he’s finally chosen to give Lowry rest to allow those pesky injuries to his elbow, thumb (and whatever else we don’t know about) to heal or at least improve. Now he needs to keep doing that and find the same rest periods for Amir through to season end. Use these last games wisely Mr. Casey. Also give him credit for shifting JJ onto Hardaway Jr. to start the 3Q. Honestly though how much of this falls on Casey on how much on the players? That is the question | |
Five Things We Saw
- The fact the Knicks took the first quarter and led by 7 (22-15) didn’t worry me… hey they are the Knicks. but then the game kept going and things didn’t improve.1Q Raptors shot only 31.6% to NYK: 41.2%, Neither team hit a 3 pointers, Knicks were +3 on assists and +4 on rebounds
2Q: Raps improved FG% to 40%, Knicks shot 41%, Toronto also got their 3 ball dropping hitting 5 in the quarter, they closed the rebound gap and had only 5 turnovers at the half. As low as the 7 assists seemed they only had 2 in the first quarter so it was a gradual improvement. However, it does beg the question DeRozan had ZERO assists at the half…. what happened to the assist master that returned from injury????
- 3Q: Raps shot 41.7% and lowered Knicks to 39.7% were +1 from 3 had 6 fewer free throws, and tallied 5 4 assists in the quarter keeping their turnovers down at 8Raptors played with more energy on defense which was immediately evident based on the Knicks getting repeated 24 shot clock violations or late shot clock attempts.
The Raptors found themselves in hot water in the front court with Patterson and both Johnson’s having 4 personal fouls each. Regardless of the zebra’s & Tony Brothers continued dislike for our front court this game shouldn’t even have come down to the 4Q. - 4Q At 9 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter our starting 5 had as many personal fouls as the entire Knick team. JV had some good minutes but the fouls ended up hurting him. Casey can’t control what the zebra’s will call or whether they’ll dole out equally punishment for similar tasks so that’s not on him. It does make me wonder though if the team took it hard at the Knicks to start the game if this might have been called differently.
- Does any other NBA team get toasted by their previous players as badly or frequently as the Raptors? Bargs jumped into the Hot Tub Time Machine taking full advantage of every second Amir wasn’t on the floor to go off for one of his better outings. Good thing Calderon wasn’t playing or it could have been a long night! To that end, the Raptors always seem to play down to their competition which is a dangerous habit to continue with 16 sub .500 teams on tap and many of them fighting for a playoff spot. They got a second life with the missed dunk by Amundson on the same bucket DeRozan missed on. That’s 2 more blocks by the NY rim than most of the players had.
- Remembering Anthony Mason: He was a big hulk of a man who was a surprisingly good passer and nimble on his feet. When he fouled players it looked like they would feel it for days. And he had one of the most infectious smiles ever to grace the court. Gone too soon, may he rest in peace.
