The Raptors are in the bright lights of the Big Apple and they looked stunned by the celebrities at court side as they went 0 for 9 from the floor and the Knicks got 2 3-balls from Carmelo Anthony and 3 points from Amar'e Stoudemire and both had a steal as the Knicks took a 13-0 start to the game. Carmelo Anthony had a 11 points and 4 boards and Toney Douglas had 8 points with 2 assists in only 4 minutes and Chauncey Billups had 6 points and 4 boards and the Knicks went 6 for 7 from 3 in the first quarter. While the Raptors were led by Jerryd Bayless had 7 points and Ed Davis had 5 points and the Knicks took control early and led 39-26 into the second quarter which iss just horrible and lets hope that the Raptors can turn it around.
18-4 run to open the second quarter basically told us the game was over and the Raptors got catch in the moment and more likely catch out of position as the Knicks just rained 3's and they only hit 75 % from 3 as they went 12 of 16 from beyond the arch led by Toney Douglas who usually gets 10 in 24 minutes but tonight he is living the high life with 4 of 5 from downtown and with 14 points while the Knicks are only shooting 66 % from the floor in the half and are leading 78-54 which is only 6 points less than the Raptors record what that was only a couple of weeks ago. So the Knicks have 5 times the assists as the Raptors (20-4) and Chauncey Billups has 7 in the half while Anthony Carter has 5 himself that is simply whacked while the Raptors are getting more rebounds 23-19 but Carmelo Anthony also has 19 (points) and 6 rebounds in the half. DeMar has 13 points and 4 boards and Ed Davis has 11 points and 4 boards while Bayless was settled with his 3 foul early in the second quarter and has 10 points in the half while Andrea only played 8 minutes in the game and was 0 for 4 after putting 41 on the Knicks last time but at least Wright found 7 minutes and 2 boards in the half.
The second half started with a good punch back by the Raptors as they were down 91-67 and outscored the Knicks to end the third quarter 15-8 to be down 99-82 and it was led by 11 points and 3 boards in the quarter while Davis had 5 points and 4 boards while Bayless has 5 points, 2 assists, and 2 boards in the quarter. James Johnson 3 of the Raptors 7 turnovers through 3 quarter and Carmelo had 4 points and 3 boards while Billups has more assists than the Raptors (9-7).
In the fourth quarter the Raptors still tried to claw back and it looked like this insane group of kids who were down 13 after not hitting a shot in the first 4 minutes in the game and the same ones that saw the Knicks start the second on a 18-4 run so the Raptors are down 10 @ 110-100 and Bayless misses a lay-up with 6:26 left and Bill Walker gabs the rebound and the star of the game Toney Douglas lays it home to put them up 12 and then Jerryd Bayless goes to the basket and AMar'e blocks it out of there so Wright dives on the floor and fumbles the ball and Knicks get it and then Derrick Brown slams it down and the Raptors crawl with their thumb in their mouth to the finish line as the Knicks win 131-118.
In the end...
I could talk about how in the last 44 minutes of the game the score was tied 118-all or how the Raptors gave up 78 points in the first half and were almost in striking distance nearing the late stages of the fourth quarter but instead I would like just like to say that the coach on the other bench whose team gave up 113 points in the last 44 minutes most likely be the other guy other than Triano to coach the Raptors next season. Also a guy named Toney Douglas came off the bench the same bench he usually comes off of and scores 10 points in 24 minutes but tonight he went 6 for 9 from downtown and had 28 points in 26 minutes with 5 assists and Amar'e was the only Knick to play over 30 minutes tonight as he had 23 points (6 boards and 5 assists) just like Carmelo (9 boards) did and the Knicks cooled off from deep in the second half 3 for 11 but still hit 15 in the game as Carmelo had 5 of them. The story of the game was Ed Davis who had 13 boards and more impressively 7 offensive boards to go with 22 points and the DeMar DeRozan going to the line 12 times and makes 9 as he has a game high 36 points and 23 in the second half. Jerryd Bayless was the starting point guard and he went 6 for 15 (6 of 7 from the line) to have 19 points but only 5 assists in the game which hard to swallow when the Knicks had 31 assists in the game which was almost triple the Raptors 11 which is disgusting to say the lest.
Cavilers at home tomorrow
Tom Mehegan
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