After the Orlando Magic (4-0 in Cup play) beat the Detroit Pistons in both teams’ final NBA Cup Group Round game, the Magic stole the top spot from the Toronto Raptors (4-0 in Cup play) in the East. Therefore, the Raptors finished second and are now set to take on the New York Knicks (3-1 in Cup play) in the first knockout game of the NBA Cup. It will take place on Dec. 9 at 8:30 pm EST in Toronto.
This will be Toronto’s first ever knockout game of the NBA Cup. In previous years, the Raptors saw the Cup pass them by. But teams treat these games seriously. There is more game planning, more specific defences, and more intensity than regular-season games. They aren’t quite playoff games, but they’re the closest thing virtually every Raptor will have seen (at least as a Raptor). The Indiana Pacers, especially, used a Cup run two years ago as a boost en route to real playoff success last year.
If these Raptors are going to be for real, playing the Knicks — who have won at least one playoff series three seasons in a row — is about as good as it’s going to get in the East. As Raptors fans well know, OG Anunoby is as good a defender as exists at the wing spot, so Brandon Ingram will have to work harder than he already does for his buckets. (And he works plenty hard.) Jalen Brunson is as unguardable a guard as exists in the league, which will offer a profound test to Toronto’s point-of-attack defence, which has come along in recent weeks.
The game will take place in Toronto on either Dec. 9. A win at home would launch Toronto to Los Vegas and the splendor of playing for straight cash.
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