The Toronto Raptors continue their easier stretch of schedule on Sunday, closing out a four-game home-stand by hosting the New York Knicks for a matinee. The Knicks enter in a bit of a mess, with their Thursday victory against the Chicago Bulls pushing them to 2-9 over their last 11. They’re 18-22 overall, just average on offense, and near the bottom on defense, and it’s led to some apparent in-fighting, with their superstar reportedly going off on the team after a loss to the 76ers this week.
The Raptors would be wise to not take the Knicks lightly, though. They already made life more difficult for themselves than they needed to on Friday against Brooklyn, and they head out on a three-game road trip from here (although it’s not a particularly difficult one). Taking care of business quickly would allow them – and us – to enjoy the rest of our Sunday, free from the frustration of a 35-minute outing for a star or a close-call at the end of the game. The Knicks aren’t a particularly good basketball team, but they’re talented and hungry, and so the Raptors need to come out with some fire they lacked the other night.
I won’t go much deeper than that for today. Tamberlyn just did the preview at 9am, there was no shootaround for updates or quotes, and I’m not at the arena for this one. Let’s just dive into the minor updates. The game tips off at 3 p.m. on TSN 4/5 and TSN 1050. Here’s the full game preview.
Raptors updates
We’re still waiting to hear if Patrick Patterson will play and who will start at power forward if he doesn’t, same as it ever was. Patterson didn’t practice on Saturday, and the team is right to take things cautiously, so the guess here is he gets another night off. If he does, I think the Raptors would go back to their smaller starting group, as the Knicks have been starting Lance Thomas in place of the injured Kristaps Porzingis, a stretchy option the Raptors can match smaller with while also getting another potential Carmelo Anthony defender on the floor in Norman Powell.
UPDATE: Patterson is out again.
Check back closer to tip-off for an update.
UPDATE II: Lucas Nogueira starts again, an interesting call against a quicker, stretchier opposing frontcourt.
(Just as a procedural note, I am going to keep Delon Wright and Jared Sullinger listed as “out” for the time being, even though they’ve returned to full team practice. Once there’s a sense they’re closer to a return, I’ll shift them into TBD on a game-to-game basis.)
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll, Terrence Ross, Bruno Caboclo
PF: Lucas Nogueira, Pascal Siakam
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl
OUT: Delon Wright, Jared Sullinger, Patrick Patterson
ASSIGNED: None
TBD:
Knicks updates
As mentioned, 3-6 Latvia is expected to miss the game due to Achilles soreness, although that has not been confirmed yet. If he can’t go, Thomas would probably start again, although Mindaugus Kuzminskas has been getting good run off the bench and could conceivably slide in as well. Joakim Noah’s also been a bit banged up, but he’s expected to play.
Again, check back closer to tip-off for an update, and refer to Tamberlyn’s preview for more of a breakdown on the matchup.
UPDATE: Porzingis is officially out.
PG: Derrick Rose, Brandon Jennings, Sasha Vujacic
SG: Courtney Lee, Justin Holiday, Ron Baker
SF: Carmelo Anthony, Mindaugus Kuzminskas
PF: Lance Thomas, Maurice Ndour
C: Joakim Noah, Kyle O’Quinn, Willy Hernangomez, Marshall Plumlee
OUT: Kristaps Porzingis
ASSIGNED: None
TBD: None
Assorted
- I wrote about DeMarre Carroll’s growing offensive role for The Athletic yesterday. I am happy with how the piece turned out, if you’re looking for something to read before the game.
- IMPORTANT REMINDER: Tomorrow is the last day to #NBAVote.
- I’ve been asked a few times lately about the Raptors maybe making a play for Carmelo Anthony as a third piece to help close the gap with Cleveland. I get why people would want to go there – he’s still playing at something close to an All-Star level on offense, he has two more years left on his deal, there aren’t many other names on the market – but there are a lot of complicating factors here. For one, it doesn’t sound like he’ll waive his no-trade clause (he probably would for the right situation, considering there’s a trade kicker in his deal if he does). There’s also the matter of the somewhat serious shoulder injury he’s reportedly playing through. And then with his salary, the Raptors would have to surrender multiple rotation pieces to make the math work, plus, probably, prospects/picks to make it worthwhile for the Knicks. It’d be a complicated deal, to be sure.
- This was floating around my timeline some this morning:
The Toronto Raptors are the rare team that’s thoroughly dominant on offense even without providing assists on most field goals. pic.twitter.com/11DIRQS3cv
— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) January 15, 2017
- It is interesting, but that’s about it. As we’ve discussed plenty here, the Raptors’ offense excels for plenty of reasons, and they don’t have to be a pass-happy team or a high-volume 3-point shooting team to be effective. It would be nice if they created easier buckets sometimes, and there are some potential playoff opponents who would be well-suited to load up against Toronto’s stars, but I’m not in the camp that “this doesn’t work in the playoffs.” So long as Lowry and DeRozan are healthy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAhfhBN6eXE
- For no reason, here’s a supercut of Fred VanVleet celebrating threes from the fourth quarter on Friday:
The line
The Raptors are 10-point favorites after opening at 10.5, a pretty substantial line – even at home, likely with no Patterson and Porzingis – against a team that was (hilariously) expected by some to be good and who are still flirting with .500. The over-under is up at 218.5, suggesting defense will once again just be a rumor at the Air Canada Centre.
Raptors 115, Knicks 101
