Quick Reaction: Knicks 113, Raptors 108

Playing against his old team, this could’ve easily been a Knicks RJ Barrett performance, putting the blinders as he focused on getting his get back. Instead, Raptors Barrett was incredibly poised as he remained within the offence while still being uber aggressive. He almost single-handedly gave the Raptors the lead at one point by making a layup, finding Agbaji with a bounce-pass in transition for two more points right after than finishing on the break himself moments later with a step-through over Brunson. A 13-0 run by Toronto that the Maple Mamba had his hands all over. Look, this grade could’ve been lower because of Barrett’s defensive lapses, but frankly, his heart and effort in the final moments of the fourth as he made the right play practically every possession, outweighs everything. That was a dude who wanted a win more than anyone, for his hometown.

A relatively understated performance but that’s what Agbaji has gotten very good at. He doesn’t stand out, in a good way. He worked in the corners, got active in transition and made simple reads. On defence he cleaned up loose balls and avoided fouling.

A bit of a ho-hum night for Poelt as he wasn’t really able to make Towns or the Knicks pay for their lackluster rim protection. He was active on the glass, especially on the offensive end but next to KAT working off the dribble and nailing a dagger three it just didn’t match up, both on the box score or optically. To add insult to injury, at one point Towns flailed on a missed layup and hit Jakob in his Poeltls.

Call it aggressiveness, fearlessness, ferocity or physicality, whatever you call it, Gradey Dick showed it in this game. From attacking Mikal Bridges on a closeout (still impressive even if he missed and Bridges isn’t the defender he once was) to drilling a triple over 7-footer Karl-Anthony Towns, he showed no fear. He was also doing a lot of the gritty stuff, being active on the glass (four rebounds in the first) and putting his body on the line. Drawing a charge on KAT moments after splashing a three in his face…the sophomore is truly a little things king. Now it would’ve been nice if he could’ve hit one of his multiple open threes.

Just when Scottie Barnes was hitting his stride — nailing back-to-back threes and outmatching his first-half scoring total just minutes into the third quarter — it all came to screeching halt. He landed awkwardly, rolling his ankle after contesting a Towns layup and the two collided. Barnes had to be helped off the floor while visibly limping and he didn’t return with what the team called a right ankle sprain.

I was excited to see Jonathan Mogbo in this one as many had made comps between him and former Raptor Precious Achiuwa. Both somewhat undersized in spots, largely versatile defenders with upside on offence. Achiuwa more refined as a scorer (shooter) while Mogbo is a much stronger passer/decision maker. Unfortunately there wasn’t much from the 31st overall pick to make a statement as he just didn’t seem in rhythm for most of his minutes. He missed a pair of bunnies at the rim in his first couple of minutes and that pretty much set the tone for his night despite a couple possessions of heads-up defence and his usual activity on the glass.

This grade was initially going to be much different but Mitchell stepped up in a big way when Barnes went down. From taking some big ball handling reps, even knocking down a big three and tough layup in the final two minutes. For that he deserves credit. On the otherside, his on-ball defence was as advertised for the most part but “Off-night” needs to start showing more off-ball. He was caught sleeping a couple times for easy back cuts, most egregiously giving up a dunk to Anunoby after the former Raptor just walked through Mitchell to get behind the defence. It was like if an NFL defensive end ripping through and sacking the quarterback while the offensive lineman was still waiting for the ball to get snapped.

Look, the efficiency hasn’t been there through his first 11 games but Ja’Kobe Walter has got the goods. The rookie has such a knack for slithering his way to his spots, whether it’s at the rim or stopping in the mid-range. His best game in the NBA, a season-high in scoring, and he was just fearless the entire night. At one point he got Towns on a PNR switch, drove and stopped around the left elbow, pumped into a step-through for a righly floater over the 7-footer. Gutsy stuff. From throwing a lob to Barrett, to converting a four-point play in the fourth, Walter did it all tonight. Living up to his namesakes.

A pretty typical Captain Canada type of game. He moved the ball on offence, didn’t move his feet on defence. Tied for the second-worst plus-minus of any Raptor when he played nine less minutes than anyone else who checked in…woof.

Not much to gripe on from Rajakovic in this one. He had the Raptors keeping up with the league’s top offence basically all night, even after losing Barnes. The extended run for Walter was good to see as well, and as long as he has the team competing this hard consistently and not making any major coaching blunders, I’ve got little to harp on. I know there’s always things to nitpick in terms of specific late-game instances, but unless we know what the plan in the huddle was vs. the in-game execution, and whether those were the same or not, I’m not hard-pressed to point fingers at this stage.