The Raptors would have lost last night’s game against most other NBA teams. Happily they were playing the Knicks, and emerged with a tight, undeserved victory.
In New York on Sunday night, a casual observer would have been hard-pressed to determine which team was near the Eastern Conference lead, and which was playing out the string. Both the Knicks and the Toronto Raptors played a sloppy, uninspiring match. Fortunately for the visitors, DeMar DeRozan was in a refuse-to-lose mood. He led all scorers with 27 points, including several eye-popping drives for buckets.
First Half
The Raptors have the market cornered…on slow starts. They traded buckets with the Knicks early, then clanked a bunch of shots in a row. The Knicks didn’t have many wasted trips and took an 11-point lead. New York was playing without impressive rookie Kristaps Porzingis, but backfilled with quality minutes from another rookie, Jerian Grant. Carmelo Anthony was being pressured on every possession, and responded well, with 11 points.
Toronto’s defense was limiting New York to a lot of one and done, but the Knicks shot 45% in the half, so didn’t need a bunch of extra chances. Hitting 5 of 8 from beyond the arc didn’t hurt their cause either.
In Q2, the Raptors second unit began to click, and chipped away at the Knicks lead. Terrence Ross looked confident with his mid-range jumper, and Patrick Patterson contributed at both ends. DeMarre Carroll didn’t start though he played 9 minutes and hit a 3-ball.
DeMar DeRozan, one of the frosty shooters early, made up for lost time. He finished the half eight of eleven, though without a trip to the free-throw line. Kyle Lowry didn’t get there either, an exceedingly rare occurrence. He was the prime provider of poor shooting early, but drained a pair of 3-balls to help Toronto put 34 on the board, and go into the locker room with a 54-51 edge.
Second Half
Neither team looked terribly interested for long stretches of the final two quarters. For Raptors fans, the most gruesome portion of a crummy half was the almost five minutes of Q4 in which the team was scoreless. Even the Knicks’ second unit couldn’t help but catch up under those circumstances, and they did. A DeRozan jumper ended the drought, but the Raptors had blown their opportunity for an easy win, and the balance of the game was taut.
After several ties, the Raptors took the lead for good on a brilliant baseline drive by DeRozan, which concluded with a left-handed runner off glass and a foul shot. The Raptors nursed their tiny margin to the end, despite making only two of six free throws when the Knicks were forced to foul.
In Sum…
Toronto coach Dwane Casey will have a surfeit of issues to deal with at practice today. Even simple things, like in-bounds passes after opposition baskets, were a challenge for the too-casual Raptors. The Knicks conceded the game by sitting down Carmelo Anthony, who scored 21 points in 24 minutes, yet the Raptors couldn’t put away the opponents’ scrubs.
The Raptors seemed to suffer from a lack of aggressiveness. They created 8 lonely turnovers. They got to the free-throw line only 19 times (and made just 12). Norman Powell couldn’t follow up his superb game against Indiana with a strong effort; he made just one basket.
Clean it up, coach. The Philadelphia 76ers are in town tomorrow night. Let’s see a complete, playoff-ready team effort.