Toronto Raptors nearly knock off New York Knicks, yet fall 121-115

Despite Poeltl leaving the game and Barrett being out, the Raptors nearly won over the New York Knicks.

This streak of former Raptors being injured when they come to play in Toronto is not fun! After Norm Powell sat out of Sunday’s Clippers game, OG Anunoby was ruled out as the New York Knicks were in Toronto to play the Raptors.

Another player out was RJ Barrett, who started feeling delayed onset concussion symptoms Monday night after hitting his head on the court at the end of Sunday’s game. Darko had mentioned after Sunday’s game that Barrett was cleared by medical staff to re-enter the game Sunday after the fall happened. Then ahead of the Knicks game Darko said that Barrett had been cleared after the game Sunday, as well as before and after practice on Monday. After he mentioned that he was feeling those symptoms Monday night, he saw a doctor Tuesday morning and placed into concussion protocol.

In Barrett’s place, it was Ja’Kobe Walter that was inserted into the starting lineup with Barnes, Dick, Quickley, and Poeltl.

If you, like I, have also been tapped out of other teams outside of the Toronto because of the trade deadline and also WNBA free agency — turns out they are playing really well! Third in the Eastern Conference with a record of 33-17 coming into tonight’s game.

Before game thought: maybe the Raptors can finally lose again? Let’s check back in on that later.

Future me thought: whew, that was close.

The odd thing about this team is that they definitely aren’t contenders but they keep hanging with contenders. It took nearly the whole first half for the Knicks to gain a sufficient lead on them, and it was mostly because of Karl Anthony-Towns. He had 20 points and 15 rebounds in the first half alone.

The second half started with the team announcing Jakob Poeltl would not be returning to the game, having suffered a hip pointer injury.

It was a little bit of a rampage from the Knicks from that point on, which is fine (if you wanted the Raptors to lose this one). It wasn’t even the fourth quarter before an all-bench lineup was deployed for Toronto. Orlando Robinson was checked in as well, which is a bit of an indication that there was not an extreme effort happening to mount the comeback. Yet, somehow it happened.

Their defence also fell off after the first quarter as well. Which again, Poeltl isn’t playing and Scottie is in and out of the lineup, so yeah.

Yet, this team is always going to give us a scare, because as the 4th quarter rolled on, the Raptors inched closer and closer to the Knicks. Thibs even had to put KAT back in, the audacity. Like, how was it a four point game? It was 20+?

The fact that they were doing it with a lineup of Olynyk, Shead, Walter, Dick and Mogbo is hilarious too. SheadHeads, it was a game for us. Jamal scored a season (and I guess career?) high of 16 points, along with 9 assists and 3 rebounds. He shot 7-12 form the field. Barnes was the only player to score more than Shead with 23 points.

It was a ONE possession game with the clock dwindling, something not great if you’re a tank enthusiast. Again, hanging with contenders.

The Raptors were not able to swing the comeback win though, losing 121-115 in the end to the New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson went on a tear at the end with a few clutch shots to secure the win for the Knicks.

Overall, this team mostly confuses me. I assume some of that confusion will be alleviated after Thursday’s trade deadline, but I guess we will see. The other factor is that the Raptors’ schedule is pretty light heading into the final third of the season, and if you’re looking to lose more games, these ones are the games to lose — against contenders.

I hate being so “tank or not tank” but what else can the Raptors do and still end up being better coming October? Draft a Cooper or an Ace and get to work! Yet, as it looks right now, the Raptors seem to be sitting right where they were last season — 6th/7th best odds in the league. At least this year they own the rights to their pick.

It’s night one of a back to back, so the team will be back tomorrow night against the Memphis Grizzlies.

PS — Kevin Jonas was at the game tonight. That was fun.