The visiting New York Knicks will be out to continue their domination of the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday night.
Not only have the Knicks taken all three meetings between the teams this season, they have won their past 11 games against the Raptors. Toronto last defeated New York on Jan. 22, 2023, at home.
The Knicks are riding the momentum of an impressive 114-89 home victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
Mikal Bridges had 25 points and five steals, Jalen Brunson added 24 points and seven assists and Karl-Anthony Towns had 12 points and 14 rebounds to help the Knicks to their fourth win in their past five games.
The Knicks ended the Spurs’ 11-game win streak and played the way that is needed for a deep playoff run.
“San Antonio is one of the better teams in the league,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “You use every game as a benchmark after the All-Star break.”
“They’re a really good team, and you’ve got to bring your A-game,” Bridges said. “The thing is, we’re just trying to be the best version of ourselves, and we keep getting better no matter who’s in front of us and just try to do the right things. … We did a great job defensively as a team and just helping each other out. Sometimes there will be some missed coverages, but the next guy stepping up for each other, that’s huge for us.”
The Knicks forced the Spurs into 22 turnovers.
“It’s just an example of where we can be defensively,” said Josh Hart, who had 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Knicks. “We have to do that on a nightly basis. Now we know it’s all about getting better every day and being the best team we can be going into the playoffs. We can’t have lulls at this point. It can’t be up and down. It has to be a steady climb. We have to continue to build off this.”
The Raptors had lost two in a row before their 134-125 road win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday. Immanuel Quickley had 27 points and 11 assists, Brandon Ingram added 24 points and RJ Barrett scored 21. Quickley and Barrett are former Knicks.
The Raptors’ inconsistency showed again Saturday when they trailed 33-25 after the first quarter and 64-61 at halftime.
“First half, we did not play up to our standards and that’s what we always compare us to,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Everyone can have a bad half, a bad quarter. It’s important that the team reacted really well.”
“Darko got on us at halftime,” Quickley said. “He didn’t show us any clips. He just kind of lit a fire under us, kind of yelling at us. He has different styles of coaching and we haven’t seen that one in a long time, so he was great.”
Toronto played without Collin Murray-Boyles, who has been dealing with a sprained left thumb.
“It’s sore and every time he gets hit it’s just like it’s a lot of pain, and he just needs to manage that pain,” Rajakovic said. “It’s something that he’s going to be dealing with for the rest of the year.”
Toronto center Jakob Poeltl, who missed seven weeks with a back issue, continued to improve on Saturday. He had 18 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and one blocked shot while going 7-for-7 from the field — his most complete effort since returning on Feb. 11.
