New York proves (first of all to itself) that the internal slip against Detroit is just that, an isolated fact, and returns to winning by continuing the excellent recent moment, taking in Canada the fifth victory in the last six games played. It is also the fifth consecutive success of the blue-orange against the Raptors, who try until the end to stay in the game, succeeding, but must surrender in front of a last quarter of 30-22 for the guests, who send three players to 20 points and above: Towns, Mikal Bridges (author of 24 points with 9/14 shooting and 5/8 from three) and Jalen Brunson (20 with 11 assists).
The absolute protagonist in the Knicks house is Karl-Anthony Towns, back after the absence against the Pistons due to a sore knee. It’s not just his numbers that give him the spotlight (24 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, but also 2 steals and 2 blocks) but also his signature on a couple of decisive plays in the final: first the basket with which he breaks the tie with 36 seconds to go, then the triple that definitively closes the game with 6.3 seconds to go, after the equally important block by the former Anunoby on Barrett (14 points for him in his first return to the Scotiabank Arena) in aid of a good defense by Towns.
There is no shortage of former players when the Knicks and Raptors meet, and in addition to Anunoby, the one who stands out in the Toronto challenge is undoubtedly R.J. Barrett, who finishes as the best scorer of the match with 30 points with 13/24 shooting and 3 triples made, also adding 8 rebounds and 4 assists to his game. From a scoring point of view, however, the second best player for the Canadians is Ja’Kobe Walter from the bench who scored 19 in 22 minutes (14 of which in the first half) with 6/12 shooting: but it’s too little to beat New York.