TORONTO — Legendary New York Knicks player and broadcaster Walt Frazier eyed former Raptors and NBA Hall of Famers Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter before a game between the teams on Tuesday.
“You guys better not be suiting up,” Frazier said.
No fear of that, given McGrady and Carter are now 46 and 49, respectively. They were in Toronto promoting the Raptors marketing partnership with the Buffalo Bills, the NFL franchise in which they each hold small ownership stakes.
They last played together for the Raptors against the Knicks in April 2000.
But as the current-day Raptors lick their wounds after a discouraging 111-95 loss to the Knicks and another night when they simply couldn’t reel in or close out one of the NBA’s top 10 teams – the Raptors are 11th – Frazier’s joke had a little bit of truth to it.
The Raptors are who the Raptors are now at this point of the season and likely next season, given the parameters of their salary-cap situation. Prime Carter or McGrady aren’t walking through that door. Neither are Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry or Pascal Siakam.
And OG Anunoby? The elite 3-and-D monster who represents the Raptors’ last unequivocal late-round steal in the NBA draft? Well, he plays for the Knicks now, which is one reason among several that the Knicks beat the Raptors so handily.
Who these Raptors are simply isn’t good enough against the top tier of the NBA.
It was the fourth time the Raptors have lost to the Knicks this season, all by at least 16 points. The average margin of victory for New York is 20 points per game. The Raptors are now 4-16 against the ten teams with better records than theirs (35-26), and three of those wins came against the (then) struggling Cleveland Cavaliers back in November. Toronto is 1-15 against top 10 teams since Nov. 24.
Does it feel that way? Is the separation that wide?
“It’s definitely frustrating,” said Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley, who had 13 points and 12 assists against his old team but — along with former Knick, now Raptor RJ Barrett — hasn’t won a game against them since being traded from New York (for Anunoby) on Dec. 30, 2024.
“Some of the stuff that happens (against good teams) has nothing to do with Xs and Os, but it’s about being tougher.
“Last game (against the Knicks) we were up 12, this game we were down two with three minutes to go (actually with 5:50 go; by the three-minute mark the Raptors were down seven). So I wouldn’t say the separation is so far (apart). Learning how to close games is something that they’re doing well right now, and we’re not doing well enough.“
The not-so-good news is that the Raptors get to play New York a fifth time on April 10, the second-last game of the regular season. The extra game is because they met in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup. Wait, it gets worse: there is a decent possibility the Raptors and Knicks — currently the fifth and third seeds in the Eastern Conference — could meet in the first round of the playoffs.
An optimist might say that with all the reps, the Raptors might finally figure the Knicks out a little bit. A less charitable view — but one based on the fact that the Knicks have now beaten the Raptors 12 straight times going back to the 2022-23 season — is that New York might end up being the first team to go 9-0 against a given opponent in a single season, at least in the annals of the 30-team NBA.
The Raptors had no excuses, really. They were healthy, other than rookie Collin Murray-Boyles being out with a sore thumb. The amount of practice days and rest days the Raptors have enjoyed since the all-star break is nearly idealized by NBA standards. They’ve only played six times in 14 days.
“I’m in heaven,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said before the game about being able to have almost as many practices as games in the past two weeks.
And for long stretches of the game, it showed. Is it encouraging that the Raptors played well and still lost by double figures?
The Raptors started with tremendous energy, jumping out to a 19-13 lead through the first six minutes that had the Scotiabank Arena crowd engaged early and the Knicks back on their heels.
But almost as soon as Toronto started asserting itself, there were mistakes made that in the moment or taken alone don’t mean all that much. Any NBA game is full of miscommunications, missed opportunities and misplays, but in the aggregate, for a team like the Raptors against a team like the Knicks, they add up and end up turning a competitive game that might have had a different result into a relatively easy Knicks win.
With the talent they have and likely will have, the Raptors’ margin for error against top teams is a knife’s edge. Too often, they’re the ones reaching for a Band-Aid.
The Raptors were very conscious of holding the bigger, more physical Knicks off the offensive glass and did a good job, giving up just six offensive rebounds to New York (compared to 25 in their first meeting of the season). But on the only offensive rebound they gave up in the first quarter, Walter ended up fouling Knicks star Jalen Brunson on a three-point attempt, and he made all three free throws.
A couple of possessions later, Scottie Barnes (14 points, four rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot) was all over Brunson on one side of the floor, but Walter lost track of Knicks wing Mikal Bridges in the far corner, and he hit the wide-open three. As a result, the Raptors were leading by seven with 2:45 left in the first period and ended up trailing 32-31 by the end of it.
In the second quarter, Toronto cut what was a 13-point Knicks lead with 2:39 to play down to seven with 1:18 left, only to have Brunson score a couple of lay-ups in quick succession and set up Josh Hart for a score on an inbounds play as the Knicks pushed the lead back to 10 at half.
But the mistakes kept coming. Brandon Ingram had 26 points in the first half and finished with 31 on 11-of-20 shooting, but he was also called for an eight-second violation and a turnover when he was too slow advancing the ball — with no pressure from the defence — into the frontcourt late in the third quarter when the Raptors would have had last possession of the period.
Barrett (20 points on 9-of-13 shooting) played his best game offensively since coming back from his ankle and knee injuries that hampered him for much of December and January. He was efficient, decisive and poised. But shortly after a Quickley jumper brought the Raptors to within two points in the fourth, Barrett completely lost Bridges in transition.
NBA on Sportsnet
Livestream 40-plus regular season Toronto Raptors games, marquee matchups from around the association, select NBA Playoffs games, the NBA Draft and summer league action on Sportsnet+.
Broadcast schedule
Raptors reserve point guard Jamal Shead — normally a reliable set of hands —threw away the ball on a needless kick-ahead pass the play before. The Raptors were locked in enough in the fourth quarter to force the Knicks into two shot-clock violations, but in the last six minutes of the game they allowed the Knicks to shoot 7-of-12 from the floor as part of a decisive 16-2 run that turned a tight game into a blowout.
You would like to think the Raptors would eventually get over the hump against the Knicks — or any other quality team. But that might be wishful thinking when your bench gets outscored 26-4. Despite throwing multiple types of defenders — Barnes, Shead and Walter all took turns — at Brunson, he still was able shake loose for 26 points and 10 assists and while committing just one turnover.
And when he was in a jam, Karl Anthony-Towns was on hand to chip in 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Anunoby had 15 points on six shots. The Knicks had six players in double figures and shot 58.8 per cent as a team while holding the Raptors to 45.5 per cent.
“I think when we look back at the tape, I think we’ve got to figure out our fourth-quarter execution, exactly what we want to go to,” said Ingram, who was scoreless in the fourth with just two field goal attempts after starting the period with 31 points on 18 shots.
“I think every time we play a good team, they know exactly what they want to go to in the fourth quarter, and they do it over again and over again. The good thing is we’re in, we’re in the games, but we got to figure out how to finish the game.”
Vince and Tracy together again: The perhaps Toronto sports ultimate ‘what could have been?’ duo were back at Scotiabank Arena Tuesday night. The Hall-of-Fame wings and distant cousins were in Toronto to celebrate ‘Bills Night’ and Raptors owners Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s strategic partnership with the NFL club just down the QEW. The Bills and Raptors have always had a bit of a relationship. It’s always been common to see Bills players make the trip to Toronto to see the NBA team closest to Western New York. “When we were Raptors players, we’d be running up and down the court and look on the sidelines, and you’d see (former Bills stars and NFL Hall-of-Famers) Thurman Thomas and Bruce Smith and those guys,” said McGrady, who played his first three seasons with the Raptors before leaving for the Orlando Magic in free agency. “…so it’s a great opportunity to get Toronto fans excited about ‘Bills Mafia’.”
More VC and TMac: After a combined 38 years of NBA experience (22 seasons for Carter and 16 for McGrady), the pair have joined forces on a podcast (Cousins) and are part of NBC’s NBA broadcast team. How much are they watching the Raptors, though? McGrady sounded a little more bullish than the consensus on the Raptors prospects. “I actually felt like they this year they could have been a lot better this year,” said McGrady. “… Had they played better against their own division, they’d probably be the second-best team in the East right now …they could be a scary team in the playoffs. If they’re healthy and building some momentum, I think they could have a series.”
Nice thought, but it’s safe to say the reason the Raptors are now 0-7 versus Atlantic Division heavyweights Boston and New York is that Toronto isn’t good enough. A first-round series winner? As long as they don’t meet the Knicks or Celtics, maybe? Carter’s Raptors take was better: “I want to give Scottie (Barnes) flowers as well … it was his team, but he was willing to sacrifice for the good of BI (Ingram coming in), and (Barnes) still became an all-star and brought another one with him (Ingram). And (Barnes) might be Defensive Player of the Year as well.”
No CMB, not good: Would the Raptors rookie have been the difference against the Knicks? Unlikely, but he certainly could have helped. His wide body and rugged approach at both ends would have given the Raptors a little depth in that regard after Poeltl. But Murray-Boyles missed his second consecutive game with the left thumb injury that has given him problems for more than two months now and gets reaggravated every time he hits it, which happened in the second half of the Raptors loss to the Spurs last Wednesday. One indication that Murray-Boyles could be out for a little while to come is that both at practice on Monday and before the game on Tuesday, he was the last player on the court and doing conditioning drills only, without any ball-handling or shooting to break up the fitness work. “Collin is still struggling to catch the ball,” Rajakovic said the other day. Not ideal.
