The end of season woes continue for the Toronto Raptors and this time it’s at the hand of the New York Knicks. Toronto suffered their biggest home loss in franchise history with a 44 point defeat and this extends their losing streak to twelve. With this loss Toronto is also officially eliminated from playoff contention, which had been an obvious outcome for quite a while now. There were plenty of returns in this game for the Raptors such as OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa and the Knicks made sure it would be an unforgettable return for them. Anunoby couldn’t play in the game as he is still sidelined due to injury but when his tribute video was shown he received a massive ovation from the Toronto crowd. There were plenty of bad things in this game for Toronto but there were also some good things as well.
The game kicked off and it was clear from the opening tip what type of game it would be. Deuce McBride had 18 points in the opening period and it was on all three pointers. He hit a couple of heavily contested ones but he was also left wide open on a lot of them due to the Raptors being put in rotation by Jalen Brunson a good amount.
Precious Achiuwa had a very positive return to Toronto and finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Achiuwa took full advantage of Toronto’s lack of size and he got all of his field goals in the paint. He was very active on the glass and did his part in contributing to this blowout.
The standout player for Toronto in last night’s game was rookie Gradey Dick. Dick scored a career high 23 points last night and he looked great doing it. He was 10-18 from the field and 3-6 from the three point line and his off ball movement skills were on full display as well. Dick was running off of pin down screens for jumpers, he was executing give and go’s for layups, he was hitting tough contested mid range shots as well, his scoring skillset was on full display last night and Dick seemingly gets better every game.
Javon Freeman-Liberty also had one of his better games last night as well. Freeman-Liberty finished with 14 points and he seemed more comfortable on the floor than he has been in his NBA stint. He had a well timed cut, he was getting to the rim and finishing well or going to the floater, and he kept his turnovers down. Things just seemed very calm for him last night.
Unlike some of the other games lately, this game was never close, once the Knicks were in control they never relinquished and there was never a point where Toronto had a chance to win this game. For games like these you have to rejoice in the fact that Gradey continues to play well against other NBA starters, and the ball movement looks really good at times.
Next up Toronto faces the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday and once again hope to end their losing streak, and with the looming returns of RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley it may just be possible.
