Raptors best the Knicks 100-98: 4 talking points

The New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors have followed somewhat of a parallel path to get to where they are right now. Both teams were regulars in the playoffs in the 2000s and then were mired in mediocrity for a while. Then the two Eastern Conference squads brought in superstar wings from the West and are now riding them to reclaim former glory. Today, the Raptors defeated the Knicks 100-98. The last time the two teams met, the Raptors had again bested the Knicks 92-88. Here are the talking points from this game -

Stars neutralized each other

The similarities between the two teams also extended to the performance of their superstars today. Both Carmelo Anthony and Rudy Gay finished with 32 points. Melo got his on 11 of 24 shooting with 6 boards and 4 assists, but he only shot 1 for 8 from downtown. He had 13 points in the first quarter itself and 17 in the first half. Rudy was more efficient as he shot 11 of 23 with 7 boards and 2 dimes. He had a +- score of +10 and Melo finished with -2. These two shot only 9 of 45 combined in their last meeting and were looking to come out with better performances.

Back and forth third and fourth

The Knicks led the Raptors by 3 points going into the half, 51-48. Then the Raptors turned it on in the third behind Rudy Gay and went on a 20-8 run as Rudy dropped 17 in that period. The Knicks would claw back with a 18-7 run of their own and take the lead with 6 minutes remaining in the fourth.

“I just wanted to be aggressive. Up until then, I was letting the game come to me. Then shots started falling, I started going to the basket and got some foul shots. I’m just trying to help the team win.”- said Rudy of his inspired play in the second half.

Melo tied it all at 95 with less than 2 minutes remaining. But Kyle Lowry added the finishing touch for the Raptors. With 32 seconds left, as Tyson Chandler was guarding him, he seized him up, crossed him over and drove in for a floating layup over Chandler’s outstretched hands.

“We got the switch and they were switching all night. I just wanted to try to get to the basket instead of taking the jump shot. That’s a great defender (Chandler), he was the defensive player of the year so I just tried to get it to my right hand, and get the floater off and get the shot over him.”- said Lowry.

Tyson Chandler came in to this point having made 16 straight free throws and had a chance to make a couple and redeem himself for letting Lowry score on him. But he made one of two from the line and the Knicks were unable to close the gap on a Carmelo three which rimmed out. The Blazers took it from there.

Shoot and rebound better, and lose

The NY Knicks actually shot better from the field than the Raptors, going 46.7% from the floor to the Raptors’ 43.8%. The Knicks also out-rebounded the Raptors 42-31. Five of the Knicks had 6 rebounds or more in this one. Carmelo, Stoudemire and Felton had 6 boards each, Tyson Chandler and Jason Kidd had 7 boards a piece.

Benched big men

Both teams have star big men who are languishing on the bench. Amare Stoudemire of the Knicks and Andrea Bargnani are both averaging lower minutes this season than their career average. And both big men were once thought of as faces of franchises. Amare played only 26 minutes and finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds. Bargnani played for 12 minutes and finished with 0 points and 1 personal foul. Conventionally, one would think that Rudy Gay would mesh better with Bargnani than with DeMar DeRozen, another wing player. But those two have a good chemistry between them. Check out DeRozen’s highlights from today, he had 18 points in this one-

New Raptor Sebestian Telfair was in attendance, although he didn’t suit up for this one. The Knicks are now on a season worst 4 game losing streak. This streak was started by the Raptors a week ago. The Raptors improved to 23-33 and the Knicks fell to 32-20. Here are the highlights from this one-