Sunday night’s rain delay at Madison Square Garden (yes, it’s true) would have been much more costly for the Knicks than the Mets dealt with earlier in the day.
While the Knicks were in the process of washing an 18-point lead in the second half, the game was delayed 14 minutes due to water falling from the roof onto the court.
The Raptors advanced shortly after resuming play, but RJ Barrett’s triple with 34.3 seconds left and Julius Randle’s late free kicks helped bring out a critical 102-96 victory for Tom’s team. Thibodeau.
Knicks ’eighth-place win in 10 games against the Raptors since November 2017 was significant for them in the Eastern Conference standings, raising their cushion over Toronto’s No. 11 to six games with 18 remaining . The top six teams in each conference are automatically ranked for play in the postseason, with teams from seven to ten subjected to play-in scenarios.
Randle scored 26 points for the team high and Barrett scored 19 for the Knicks (27-27), who have won consecutive games after falling five of the previous six. They will play again at home Monday against the Lakers, who remain without injured stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Nerlens Noel contributed nine points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Knicks, while Gary Trent Jr. scored 23 points and Kyle Lowry added 19 for the Raptors (21-33).
The Knicks had gained a 68-50 lead early in the third quarter, but the Raptors came back with a 37-15 surge to take an 87-83 lead on Rodney Hood’s 3-point lead with seven minutes to go. for the fourth.
The Knicks got the next nine points to regain the lead, including a push from Barrett and a 3-point direct from Alec Burks for a 92-87 lead with 3:24 left. The right corner of Barrett 3 in the last minute widened a cushion from a point to four, and after Pascal Siakam was called up to travel with the chance to tie, Randle sank four free throws in a row in the last 10 seconds to seal the victory.
The Raptors were without Fred VanVleet (hip) and OG Anunoby (break), but had scored 135 points without them (and with Lowry and Siakam also offside) in Saturday’s win in Cleveland.
“They have had several injuries, but it is a deep and talented team. They added 87 points in the first half of their game [Friday] at night, and they had some of their players out of that particular game. So you have to be prepared for them, “Thibodeau said.” They can turn around and enter the open ground and they are very dangerous. “
The suffocating Knicks defense caused the Raptors to shoot just 13 for 42 (29.3%) in the first half, starting with Bullock’s interception from a Siakam pass to Toronto’s first possession for a breakaway. The Knicks got 10 of 12 3-point attempts in the first quarter, but Randle’s three-point conversion in the final seconds gave them a 27-16 lead.
Derrick Rose (11 points) was hacked in a 3-point attempt and dropped all three free throws to get a 14-point cushion early in the second. Randle, who finished with 18 points at halftime, sank two free throws with 13.4 seconds left while the Knicks took a 56-42 lead at the break.
Barrett and Reggie Bullock (10 points) connected from the center early in the third to extend the Knicks ’lead to 18. Siakim and Trent combined for 14 in a 16-4 run in Toronto to reduce the lead at six, 72-66, with five minutes left for the fourth.
The game was delayed 14 minutes from 3:58 of the third quarter, with the Knicks leading by 10, due to what the team called “a small drip of rain,” coming out of the ceiling. After the delay, the Raptors closed out less than two points, 78-76, at the end of the quarter in triples from Trent and Chris Boucher.