Having played last night at home, coach Mike Brown rested his starters tonight in Toronto. His opening lineup included Jose Alvarado, Miles McBride, Bruce Brown, Mohamed Diawara, and James Wiseman. Across the aisle, Kawhi Leonard made his preseason debut as the team returned to Scotiabank Arena following a cross-country tour of showcase scrimmages. The Knicks lost to the Timberwolves yesterday, and they dropped another tonight, 148-98. No, Virginia, these games don’t count.
The starters weren’t required
to attend, but Mikal Bridges did. Because he’s a savage!
Both teams came out bricking, but the home team fixed their problems sooner, jumping out to a 13-4 lead that chased New York into a timeout. OAKAAKUYOAK RJ Barrett collected an early eight points in seven minutes to lead his team. For our heroes, James Wiseman blanked across the board in the first quarter, with two turnovers that cancelled a pair of rebounds. He played better (offensively, at least) in the second half, finishing the night with 18 points and 10 boards to lead the team.
Midway through the frame, Wiseman sat for Drew Eubanks, who didn’t wow us either, but at least got on the scoreboard. Pacome Dadiet checked in, too, and promptly suffered at the hands of Scottie Barnes—and then Barrett. Not great. (He also played better after intermission.) Seeing Diawara make his first three-pointer of the preseason made us happy, but ‘twas a mere sip while we thirsted for decent basketball. The two Tylers (Kolek, Nickel) checked in with four minutes left in the quarter, and they did little to help. By the break, Barnes had shot 6-of-7 for 15 points, and the score stood at 42-22. The gulf felt much wider than that.
Twice in the first quarter, Mike Brown and Alvarado had extended conversations. They seemed to not be on the same page. To be fair, few Knicks were on the right page tonight.
Toronto opened the second quarter with a 7–0 run, on a bucket from Quickley, a three from Kawhi Leonard, and a drive by Barrett. Tyler Nickel answered with a layup and a three, and Tony Bradley added two baskets inside, but the Knicks played defense like touch football, allowing the Dinos to continue to pour it on. After Bruce Brown’s cutting layup made it 56–33 with 7:16 left, the Raptors went on a 20–2 run. It’s never fun to be on the wrong side of that.
Ja’Kobe Walter scored all eight of his quarter’s points during that stretch, including a three after stripping Wiseman. Jamal Shead dished four dimes on that run, while Leonard added a free throw and a turnaround three. When Collin Murray-Boyles made a putback dunk, Toronto’s advantage reached 76–35.
Leonard had the biggest scoring impact with 11 points in the quarter and 21 in the half. Wiseman gave the Knicks a brief lift late, finishing an Alvarado-assisted dunk and converting a hook shot. Between those baskets, Miles McBride blocked Leonard’s layup (good!) but turned over the rock twice (less good). Alvarado missed two free throws (even less good). Kevin McCullar Jr., Ochai Agbaji and Pacôme Dadiet went scoreless in the period. When the half finally ended, the score was 85–47.
Nickel does have a pretty shot, no?
Through the half, the Knicks’ understudies turned over the ball 12 times compared to Toronto’s two, and were outrebounded 29-17. They’d shot a paltry 22% from deep versus the Raptors’ 40%. McBride and Nickel had eight points apiece for the guests, with no one yet in double digits.
After intermission, the abuse continued with the lead reaching 44 points. New York finally assembled some offense inside: Alvarado hit a pullup, then assisted on buckets by Eubanks and Dadiet. The latter also blocked a Barrett layup, and Eubanks rejected Quickley, but the losses outnumbered the gains. McBride went scoreless during that stretch, missing two threes and having a dunk blocked by Barnes.
Wiseman made the biggest difference for New York after entering at 6:55, scoring nine points on hooks, an alley-oop from Brown, and a putback hook. Jaden Akins (who really does resemble Quinten Grimes from a distance, if you squint) supplied three assists and turned a steal into a layup, while Kolek added a three and two freebies. Together, they powered the Knicks on a 20–9 run that trimmed the score to 109-76. Dadiet contributed seven points, but his fourth foul and Mohamed Diawara’s fifth underscored a general defensive ineptitude. Nickel kept letting shots fly, making just 1-of-9 on the night. After three quarters, the score remained lopsided, 116-70.
In the fourth frame, the differential topped out at 53. New York’s perimeter shooting fell to 17% for the game, a figure that passed the eye test. Your weary blogger fell asleep for a few minutes, but the clang of bricks woke him. Our guys sure left some dents in those Canadian rims. Against Toronto’s third-stringers, Diawara hit another triple (totaled 13 points overall), and Wiseman grabbed five boards. Those were encouraging signs. Less encouraging: Kolek missed four threes down the stretch, McCullar missed two, and Ochai Agbaji and Tony Bradley went scoreless. When it finally was time to go to bed, there was a special satisfaction in turning the TV off on this game.
Up Next
Back to MSG on Thursday to see the Dinos again. Last game of the preseason, too. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.
