The Raptors arrive in Gotham and hit the Knicks with a knockout

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Admit it: you were ready to turn off the game after the first quarter.

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The Knicks, who came into the game 5-1, were moving the ball and shooting so high it felt almost desperate.

But if we’ve only learned one thing about Raptors culture over the years it’s that ‘giving up’ is simply not in the team’s vocabulary and it was never more apparent than last night as the Raptors, key players and below. Early on, he fought to a 113-104 win at the venerable Madison Square Garden.

Even being outscored in that first quarter when the Knicks drained eight 3s to just one by the Raptors, the visitors stayed within range, finishing that first frame with just eight losses.

The turnaround began in the second quarter and began with the Raptors’ determination to take the three-point line away from the Knicks.

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He continued a strong career from a hybrid bench / headline combination of Dalano Banton, Malachi Flynn, Khem Birch, Gary Trent Jr. and OG Anunoby.

That five spot worked really well and was rewarded with a second quarter win leaving them behind just four at the half.

The circle was completed in the third quarter when coach Nick Nurse rode their starters throughout the third quarter and was rewarded with a 38-22 victory in the quarter that propelled them to eventual victory.

When it was pointed out after the game that it might have been the first time Nurse had not made a full-quarter substitution, the coach did not refute the point.

“Those guys were playing really hard and obviously scoring and shooting, defending so there’s no point breaking that I guess,” Nurse said.

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OG Anunoby was fantastic on both ends of the court, finishing with a career-best 36 points while holding Julius Randle to just 22 after the Knicks forward scored 18 in the first quarter alone.

Svi Mykhailiuk, starting in place of the injured Scottie Barnes, was huge with a night of 15 points, five assists and five rebounds.

Trent Jr., a guy many hope could return to the bench once Pascal Siakam returns, had been making such a potentially hugely reckless decision with his tenacious defense, leading the team in both deflections and steals.

He has always had an offensive game and that was front and center Monday night, as well as going for 26 points, the best mark of the season.

Fred VanVleet, a guy who makes it all go in the Raptors’ favor took a backseat from a scoring perspective, but his timely 3s were instrumental in this one too, as he finished with 17 points, seven assists and nine rebounds in a do-a-night kind of a little bit of everything.

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It was the kind of night where you couldn’t dish out enough praise when the Raptors took down a giant.

Khem Birch finished the night with just six points, but his defense, his rebounds, his work on the offensive crystal in particular made boxscore a liar.

Not that it matters, because Birch doesn’t watch boxscores anyway.

“I feel the perception, just because I averaged a lot of points last year, people think I’m having a bad year or whatever, but I feel stress-free,” Birch said. “I’ve always been a guy who just wants to make winning plays, I don’t care about the cash score. Now that I’m here, I got my contract, I can show that I can make winning plays and some nights I can have four points, some nights I can have 10, so I am happy that I was able to be this year without stress and contribute to the victories. “

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If there’s a concern that comes out of the game, it’s for VanVleet and Trent Jr., who were rocked in the same series. VanVleet squeezed his right thumb as Trent Jr. awkwardly lowered himself onto his right knee.

They both finished the game, but those injuries will be worth it.

Raptors’ Gary Trent Jr. dunks the New York Knicks in the first quarter. BRAD PENNER / USA TODAY SPORTS

NOT SCOTTISH

Barnes’s absence in this one wasn’t much of a surprise as he ended the previous game favoring his right hand.

The surprise came when Nurse chose to take his place among the five starters.

“Dalano (Banton), Chris (Boucher), a kind of backcourt, a frontcourt energy boost, Svi’s shot, Khem’s reserve center game is right there where we need it,” Nurse said before the match. play. “So we’re just trying to figure out which one keeps that unit more intact, maybe, or maybe even jump the whole group and bring someone from the back to the starting lineup so that group can stay together. We are still working on that. “

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After accepting in a later question that Goran Dragic, who started earlier in the year but has been a decision by DNP coaches the last two games, took a different path by pulling Svi Mykhailiuk out of the second unit.

Mykhailiuk certainly earned it given his performance in the win over Indy on Saturday, but it was still a bit surprising given Nurse’s penchant for keeping a tight group together.

And Mykhailiuk, Banton, Boucher and Birch have been giving Nurse a lot of that second unit in recent games.

Meanwhile, Dragic stayed on the bench while Flynn, another boy hoping to find a role, moved into Mykhailiuk’s spot in the second unit and gained some confidence with a very solid second quarter.

QUICK ACCESS: Birch, for the second game in a row, had more minutes than Precious Achiuwa, who is in a bit of a bad mood right now… Huge props for Monday night’s second unit minus Mykhailiuk. Flynn and Justin Champagnie got a lot of help from the tiered starters at Anunoby and Trent Jr., but without their energy in that second quarter that helped get the Raptors back in this game, this might never have been.

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