Knicks Drop Season Series to Toronto, 4th in a Row
At the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Knicks once again wilted in the fourth quarter.
Deja vu came back for the Knicks at the worst possible hour, as they let up 39 points in the final frame, falling behind by as much as 16 in a 125-116 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night. Four Toronto starters had at least 19 points with old metropolitan nemesis Fred VanVleet leading the way with 28.
The Knicks (25-23) dropped their fourth in a row and third to the Raptors, dropping the yearly quartet. Ontario native RJ Barrett led New York with 30 points and Julius Randle got back to his double-double pace with 23 points and 19 rebounds (also coming two assists short of a double-double). Forced to go without leading bench scorer Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin took over the points for the reserves, as his 14 in relief (all but two coming in the first half) stood as his first double-figure effort since Nov. 13.
That wasn't enough to counter Toronto's scoring assault, which bookended the contest with 37 in the opening frame and the aforementioned final frame tally. A diverse scoring effort in the third period, one that saw the big three of Barrett, Randle, and Jalen Brunson (he of 19 points total) score seven each on a combined 7-of-13 from the field, saw the Knicks erase a Toronto lead that ballooned as high as 17 in the first half.
Notably absent from the recovery, a 33-24 New York victory over the dozen minutes was Toppin, who was held out of the frame entirely despite his first half mastery. Toppin's departure was partly masked by a 10-1 New York staged late in the frame one that gave them a brief lead (its first since a 2-0 advantage at the start) and an eventual tie entering the final 12.
The embattled junior first-round choice eventually returned and opened the stretch with a dunk but that only yielded a 24-8 Toronto run over a 5:58 stretch that spelled the Knicks' doom. Usual suspects and new enemies helped create the final margin: VanVleet averaged 29.3 points in three battles with the Knicks this year while Gary Trent Jr. tied his season best with six triples after having four in each of the prior two. Precious Achiwua (subbing in the starting five for the injured O.G. Anunoby) had a double-double while Chris Boucher had 14 off the bench, outscoring the entirety of the non-Topping reserves for New York (Isaiah Hartenstein, Evan Fournier, and Miles McBride getting 10).
Mired in their second-longest losing streak of the season, the Knicks have allowed at least 120 points in three of the last four games, all but one coming without the services of starting center Mitchell Robinson. The fourth quarter no-show over the border came less than 48 hours after they gave up 37 to the Atlanta Hawks.
A brief return to Madison Square Garden offers little relief: the Knicks face Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG) before dangerous visits to Boston and Brooklyn loom.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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