In a tough battle between Atlantic division foes the Toronto Raptors managed to come away with a sloppy victory against the New York Knicks winning 95-90. With the Raptors sitting first in and the Knicks a lowly 14th in the Eastern Conference – you’d expect this game to be a gimme. That definitely was NOT the case at Madison Square Garden as the Raptors and Knicks went back and forth for 48 minutes plus an overtime period. Carmelo Anthony continued his mean streak against the Raptors leading all scorers with 34 points. Anthony also tied up the score at 86 with 28 seconds left on the clock ultimately sending the game into extra minutes. Thank the basketball heavens for Kyle Lowry getting his s*** together and bringing it home for the Raptors in the end. Lowry finished tonights contest with 21 points 11 assists and an uncharacteristic 9 turnovers.
Offence: C+
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Anytime the starting point guard of your NBA team has 9 turnovers, there’s a problem. The Raptors committed 23 turnovers and had 24 assists. I’m not sure if it was the bright lights in the basketball Mecca, but Toronto resorted to a lot of one-on-one ball tonight. Questionable calls and questionable shot selection plagued the Raptors on offence but they managed to pull through. Without the presence of DeMar DeRozan the struggles for Toronto getting to the line and staying composed late in the game continued. The Raptors totaled only 18attempts from the free throw line against the Knicks.
Defence: B
The Raptors defence tonight was average at best. They allowed themselves to get torched early on by Jose Calderon. The dysfunctional Knicks offense should’ve looked frantic against a seasoned defensive scheme set by Dwane Casey. The Raptors failed to meet the energy level set by New York and ended up playing at their tempo for most of the night. Toronto has a terrible tendency of playing down to the skill level of their opponent and that showed tonight. They held new York to only 37.2% shooting and forced them to commit 25 turnovers versus their 15 assists. Kudos to Toronto for buckling down and getting the job done in overtime, because the game should’ve never been this close in the first place.
Rebounding: B-
The Raptors weren’t able to control the glass against the Knicks finishing a minus one on the glass 43-42. From the opening tip-off, Toronto looked at step slow and unwilling to box out their man. This allowed the Knicks to stay in the game and pick up 12 offensive rebounds helping their effort towards second chance opportunities.
Game Ball: Terrence Ross
Tonight’s game ball goes to Terrence Ross who made a stellar effort to keep Toronto in the game. T-Ross made some big time shots helping to kill any momentum New York tried to gain. Ross finished tonights game with 22pts 5reb and 1 assist. Good game TdotFlight.
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