The Raptors will try to keep their momentum going and avoid being swept by the New York Knicks when the teams meet on Tuesday night in Toronto.
The Knicks have won the first three games between the two teams this season and have defeated the Raptors in the last seven matchups. Toronto’s last win against New York was on January 22, 2023.
After struggling with a 1-16 record, the Raptors have won eight of their last 10 games, including a 115-108 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Coach Darko Rajakovic agreed that it was probably one of their best performances this season.
“Yeah, to be honest with you,” he said. “Every player that stepped on the floor contributed.”
The Knicks could be vulnerable after a tough home win against the Houston Rockets, 124-118, on Monday. They were down by 11 points heading into the fourth quarter when Jalen Brunson stepped up, scoring 17 of his 42 points in the final period.
“We know what we’re capable of,” Brunson said. “We put ourselves in those positions. We knew that we were at fault and obviously we knew they were not going to quit, so we had to step it up. Just having the confidence in each other knowing, knowing we’re not going to quit.”
The Knicks were without former Raptor OG Anunoby (right foot) on Monday. He was part of the trade last season that brought RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to Toronto.
Anunoby had played every game until Monday, when he got injured during the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday with what Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau called a mild sprain.
The coach wasn’t sure if Anunoby would be able to play on Tuesday.
“We’ll see how he responds to the treatment,” Thibodeau said. “It would be premature to say. You deal with the reality of it. It’s good that it’s a mild sprain. Just work your way through the treatment and get ready to go. … Next guy get in there and get the job done.”
Precious Achiuwa, who also came to the Knicks in the trade, started in place of Anunoby on Monday. He scored seven points, grabbed nine rebounds, and had two steals.
The Raptors are a different team than the one that lost 112-98 at New York on January 8, during a five-game losing streak. The return of injured players has helped, and they’ve been able to finish games stronger.
“There’s so much change with our roster in the past couple weeks, with guys coming back,” said Gradey Dick, who scored 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting on Sunday.
“I think it’s just knowing in our heads we don’t need to change really anything. We just need to go out there and play hard.”
It also helped that the Raptors shot 51.8 percent (44-for-85) from the field on Sunday, and were even better from 3-point range, making 52.0 percent (13-for-25).
The Raptors are slowly moving up in the standings, entering Monday just 4 1/2 games out of the last play-in spot. However, Rajakovic said this won’t change his approach.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I do not look into the standings at all, I really don’t,” Rajakovic said at practice on Monday. “That’s not going to change anything on how we go about the business. That’s not going to change our preparation. That’s not going to change our motivation.”
