Raptors stray away from identity, collapse late vs. Knicks
It was a tale of two halves for the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, and unfortunately for the home team, the final 24 minutes did not go in their favour.
The Raptors were outscored 72-41 by the New York Knicks in the second half en route to a 119-92 loss that put an end to their four-game win streak.
Toronto led wire-to-wire until the 2:59 mark of the third quarter, allowing New York to climb out of a once 12-point deficit on a far too easy blow-by layup from OG Anunoby, who went on to finish with 26 points, five assists, six steals and two blocks.
He wasn’t the only Knick to do most of his damage in the third, however, as Mikal Bridges torched the Raptors for 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the frame as part of a game-high 30-point (12-of-15) outing that powered New York’s 11th consecutive win against Toronto.
The Raptors have not been on the right side of the box score against the Knicks since Jan. 2023, and have yet to beat OG Anunoby since dealing him away to the Big Apple.
Until the third quarter collapse, Toronto had largely maintained a steady lead thanks to some early effort on both ends of the floor. It started with holding New York to just 6-of-20 shooting in the opening frame, while forcing one of the league’s best three-point shooting teams — top five in average makes and percentage — to just 4-of-19 from beyond the arc in the first half.
All of which amounted to a modest 51-47 lead heading into the break, that admittedly should have been larger had it not been for another subpar offensive showing to the tune of 14-of-45 shooting. Still the Raptors managed to stay afloat thanks to a steady diet of free throws — 17-of-18 at the half — and somehow winning the rebounding battle (plus-three) despite giving up 16 first-half boards to Karl-Anthony Towns and ending up plus-eight on second chance points.
None of which ultimately mattered, as the Raptors were subsequently outscored 35-19 in the third as the Knicks flipped the once double-digit deficit into a 12-point lead in a matter of minutes. They closed the quarter on a 27-4 run, largely helped by the Raptors’ eight turnovers in that span. The abundance of giveaways allowed the Knicks to run roughshod all the way to the rim as they shot 10-of-13 in the paint for the quarter en route to 60 total paint points (plus-22).
All of which happened while Jalen Brunson sat for the final four minutes of the frame after picking up his fourth foul at the 4:04 mark. His backup, Tyler Kolek, helped carve up Toronto’s usually stout defence with four assists, as part of his 10 on the night. Undoubtedly a letdown for the Raptors, who did well to otherwise limit the star duo of Brunson and Towns to just 21 combined points on 8-of-25 shooting, but got summarily outclassed by the Knicks depth.
Toronto’s only player to find any semblance of success offensively was Brandon Ingram, who finished with a team-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting, along with six rebounds and three steals. The slithery bucket-getter put up 10 of those points in the third as he tried to keep the Raptors afloat. First, a spinning-turnaround to stop what was just a 7-0 run to that point, and then what would’ve been a montage-worthy Dirk Nowitzki-like fadeaway had the officials not (inexplicably) called it an offensive foul. While that may not have been the ultimate tipping point, the Raptors and Ingram’s momentum definitely stalled from that point as they got outscored 18-2 following the call.
Not even Scottie Barnes, who chipped in 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists (on five turnovers), could string together enough positive plays on the night to put a stop to the second-half collapse.
Things were even quieter for the rest of the starters as RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Collin Murray-Boyles — in his return from a four-game absence due to a thumb injury — combined to shoot 7-of-24 from the field for 25 points.
So, while the non-Ingram Raptors could hardly get anything going on offence aside from finishing 25-of-29 from the line, they got increasingly desperate in relying on the team’s leading scorer. They strayed further and further from Darko Rajakovic’s ordained style of 0.5 offence and further into isolation-heavy, Ingram save-the-day offence. In some ways, that’s what he’s been brought in to do, but in others, it’s iced out others down the stretch. Quite the quandary.
The Raptors finished with just 20 assists on their 30 made field goals, the fewest helpers they’ve dished in a game since the 18 they posted in a 97-96 win — thanks to a Quickley game-winner — over the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 7.
A Raptors team that doesn’t stick to its egalitarian principles on offence or upholds the physical tenets of what’s usually a top-five defence is not one that will find much success on most nights. A reality that the 19,511 in attendance at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday witnessed firsthand.
So while Toronto hoped for their prayers to be answered, the basketball gods, or rather, the Knicks instead responded with a 37-22 shellacking in the fourth quarter on route to their fourth-straight win. Toronto finished 30-of-79 (38 per cent) from the field and 7-of-26 from deep (1-of-9 in the second half) to New York’s 45-of-90 (50 per cent) and 14-of-38 (10-of-19 in the second half).
Especially timely, as the victory propelled the Knicks (29-18) into second in the East while the Raptors (29-20) remain in fourth. The Boston Celtics (29-18) are sandwiched between their division rivals. And speaking of the Eastern Conference’s top tier, the Raptors are also now just 1-9 against the top four teams in either conference and have yet to face the No. 1 Detroit Pistons.
Time will tell how much noise they can really make in what should be their first playoff appearance since 2022, but for now, they appear to be a notch below the true elites of the NBA.
In the meantime, the Raptors will look to bounceback on Friday as they visit the Orlando Magic before returning to Toronto for a five-game homestand. The game will now be nationally televised in the United States after replacing the Memphis Grizzlies-New Orleans Pelicans game on ESPN, which should give the squad plenty of eyeballs as they look to make a statement to the rest of the league.
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