The Raptors have one more road game, and one more home contest before the season is over, both against the two New York teams. The bad news: they’ve got to play the 52-win Knicks in Madison Square Garden, a must-win game to keep any type of breathing room between them at the Play-In. The good news? Their last game is against a Nets squad that’s near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, having lost 7 of their last 10 games. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The Knicks have dominated the Toronto
Raptors in an embarrassing fashion this season. And the season before that. And the season before that. It’s been since 2023 that the Raptors have picked up a win against the Knicks, and the Raptors will be hard pressed to snap that streak to end this season. New York is playing with essentially their entire roster intact, and are cruising after a win against the Celtics last night where both Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart at more than 25 points.
Both the Raptors and Knicks are playing back-to-backs, so there’ll be no fresh legs for anyone on the court today. While New York has clinched a playoff spot, the Cavaliers are right behind them, nipping at their heels, and the Celtics, should they drop these next two games, could theoretically fall in the standings and give the Knicks the second seed in the Conference. Culturally, the Knicks seem likely to put the pedal to the metal to preserve their spot, so a high energy game is likely here.
The Knicks’ depth is something that the Raptors need to be able to manage. Toronto has been able to contain New York’s twin stars in Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, but expending too much energy on those two leaves the Raptors open to big scoring games from OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, or Josh Hart. The Raptors can put out excellent defensive lineups, but the Knicks are a team where anyone can be a hero and ruin an opponent’s night.
The magic of point-Scottie seems to be over with for now, as Barnes hasn’t hit 10 assists in his last four games after a magical playmaking run, all-the-while taking a step back from scoring. Barnes has been middling this season against New York, posting below season-average statlines against the Knicks. Brandon Ingram, coming off a big game against the Heat, needs to do his best to continue his streak against New York’s stifling defence. Ingram has hit more than thirty points against the Knicks twice this season, and completing a trifecta might be the best chance the Raptors have to take down New York this late in the season. With Immanuel Quickley still shaking off the cobwebs as he returns back from an injury, the Raptors can use every point they can muster against a New York team that’s held them under 100 points in three out of four contests this season.
The best thing for the Raptors to do is to do what they do best: play smothering defence from the 1 to the 5, force an off-night for Knicks stars while not giving up open shots to the rest of the squad, and allow Barnes to get involved as a primary facilitator while trusting Brandon Ingram to put the ball through the hoop.
Game Information and Details
Game Time: 7:30 EDT
Watch On: TSN
Injury Report
Raptors: Trayce Jackson-Davis (Day-to-day – illness)
Knicks: Tyler Kolek (Day-to-day – right oblique)
Projected Lineups
Raptors: Immanuel Quickley, Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl
Knicks: Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns
