Toronto rolled into Madison Square Garden looking to end their losing streak and get their first win in the Atlantic division, but the Knicks had other plans. It was a hard-fought high scoring affair but the Knicks were able to pull away late as they just could not cut the Knicks water off late in the game. This loss is a microcosm of the season itself, even when one thing is going well, there is something else that is not going right. Toronto’s identity in the past used to be being a hard-nosed hardworking team that had a really strong defense and would by no means let a team comfortably score at any point during the game. Last night’s game was simply not that. To lose to a team down two of their best rotation players in Immanuel Quickley and Mitchell Robinson is just adding insult to injury as well.
The game opened up with both teams firing on all cylinders but Julius Randle was the hottest player on the court. No matter who was guarding him he was still raining down difficult jumpers from all over the court. Randle had 15 points in the opening quarter and the Knicks had 35 in the quarter alone but Toronto matched that opening quarter onslaught from the Knicks with 35 points of their own. Toronto’s first quarter was more of a group effort than the Knicks’ was and they got great production from every starter, but especially from OG Anunoby and Jakob Poetl who both had 7 to open up the game.
The second quarter was a bit more of the same from both teams but the Knicks were able to pull away a little bit in this quarter due in large part to an 11 point quarter from Quentin Grimes who now comes off the bench which included 3 three point shots. The second quarter was kind of a grind for Toronto as they shot 36.7 percent and could not get into a groove offensively. Despite the offensive woes, the lead didn’t really balloon because they were able to slow down Julius Randle and continued to do a good job on Jalen Brunson defensively. At halftime this was just a 6 point game and it seemed to be a very winnable game for Toronto.
The third quarter was really good for Toronto as they scored 37 points which was led by 15 in the quarter from OG Anunoby who was just brilliant in this quarter. Not only was OG spacing the floor very well and knocking down threes, he was attacking the rim aggressively and finishing with dunks. Pascal Siakam also joined the party in this quarter with 9 points of his own and he was really getting busy in the midrange. Despite a great quarter like this on offense for Toronto they could not stop Julisu Randle as he scored 11 points on an array of difficult jumpers once again. All things considered though, the Raptors were well within striking distance to win this game in the 4th quarter and things were very close until late in the game.
In the 4th quarter the Raptors allowed Josh Hart, a reserve player to once again heavily impact them losing the game, just like the last time the Knicks and Raptors faced off. Hart had 9 in the 4th and RJ had 12 in this quarter and both men were just parading to the basket seemingly unchallenged. Toronto just could not stop the Knicks from getting to the basket and could not stop them from getting out in transition either.
This is one of the more frustrating losses because the Raptors got great production on offense from their team. Scottie had 20, Pascal had 20, Anunoby had 29, and Jakob had 11 and Schroeder had 20 points and 10 assists, the team was truly humming offensively which has been a rarity this season. But because of the defense, which is supposed to be this team’s calling card, and because of once again, bench scoring, Toronto loses a very winnable game and the losing streak stays alive.
Toronto will host a game against the visiting Atlanta Hawks and they will look to add something to the win column for the first time in a little while on Wednesday.
