The New York Knicks are heading to Toronto for a two-game stretch against the Raptors, with games on Sunday and Tuesday nights. The Raptors have struggled mightily against the Knicks lately. Not only did Toronto go 0-5 against the defending champions last year, but they have a 13-game losing streak against New York, with no regular season wins against their division rivals since January 2023. And, as odd as it is to say, the Raptors may be hosting the defending champions at the right time.
This year’s
Knicks are sputtering along at just 6-6. Their losses have all been by single digits, but their play has been characterized by the same malaise that plagued them in the middle of last season. If Toronto is going to break the losing streak, even though Kawhi Leonard won’t be suiting up and Scottie Barnes is listed as questionable, there may not be many more opportunities where the Knicks are more vulnerable.
How do the teams stack up? Let’s take a look.
Know thy enemy
What’s been surprising about this year’s Knicks is that they’re by and large the same squad that absolutely blitzed the Eastern Conference in last year’s playoffs. The only rotation player from the title-winning squad who has departed is Mitchell Robinson, and the team isn’t particularly old. Despite a short offseason (filled with late-night TV appearances, among other things) and some fatigue, the chemistry that brought the Big Apple its first title in over 50 years should have carried over into the new season. It has not.
Blown pick-and-roll coverages have popped up. Opposing shooters have been afforded too much space. The offense has resorted to the sort of hero ball that led to them falling into a 2-1 series deficit to the Atlanta Hawks, with the team standing around waiting for Jalen Brunson to bail them out. Every starter not named Karl-Anthony Towns has been significantly less efficient on offence, and he hasn’t gotten the late-game touches he deserves. Last year’s team sported a top-five offence. This year, they’re just 13th, and somehow playing at an even slower pace (29th in the league) than last year. And, once again, the Mikal Bridges discourse is in full swing, with head coach Mike Brown trusting Landry Shamet over him in key moments.
That being said, these are the reigning champs, masters of improbable comebacks, and they have a recent history of lollygagging for a while against the Raps, before turning it up in the fourth quarter and putting the game away, and their defence still ranks in the top five in the league, despite its flaws.
On the last episode
Thanks to an NBA Cup quarterfinals match, the division foes actually matched up five times in the regular season last year, with New York winning all five, by an average of 19.6 points. The Raptors struggled with injuries (and, uh, covert tanking) last year, but this was a lopsided matchup.
Key matchup(s)
Karl-Anthony Towns vs Jakob Poeltl and Collin Murray-Boyles and also his own teammates
For much of this season, KAT has been the line bright spot in the Knicks’ starting lineup. That lineup has had its fair shares of issues over the last few seasons, before flipping a switch last postseason, and many of those old issues have reared their heads again. Towns is shooting a sizzling 54% from the field and 40% from three so far, but New York periodically forgets they employ a seven-footer who’s one of the best shooters on the planet. He possesses a unique skillset that allows him to pull Poeltl out of his comfort zone defensively, and the size to pin CMB under the basket, if his team chooses to feed him on the block. And, with the way they’ve been playing, that’s a big “if.”
Even more so than Bridges, OG Anunoby, or Josh Hart getting back on track, the key for New York is making sure to take full advantage of KAT’s gifts. If the Raptors can make him a non-factor and bother Brunson enough as a scorer (it should be noted he had offseason wrist surgery and hasn’t fully been himself), the Raptors have a shot over these next two games to finally end their years-long losing streak against the Knickerbockers.
