Raptors 105 – Knicks 93
When the Knicks snapped their nine-game losing streak Sunday against Indiana – their worst slide in a generation – they celebrated like they’d won an NBA title.
As good as that win felt, last night’s 105-93 embarrassing meltdown against Toronto was as bad as it gets.
Against the lottery-bound Raptors, the Knicks blew a 16-point third-quarter lead and gave up a 13-0 fourth-quarter
run.
They got dominated by Chris Bosh and dismantled by Toronto, and are left looking for answers, redemption, anything they can take out of the five games left in their rancid season.
“You have to … come out and be ready to play. You have to match their energy and their effort,” said a visibly vexed Knick coach Herb Williams.
“We could’ve come out with more effort and played harder … especially here at home, in front of our fans. You have to come out, play with some pride and put it on the line.”
The Knicks (30-47) could’ve done a lot of things better. They barely contested jumpers by Jalen Rose (25 points). They couldn’t even slow Bosh (game-high 29), and saw a 54-38 halftime lead erased when the Raptors opened the third with a 22-4 run that set the tone for the rest of the night.
“We came out in the second half, couldn’t stop anyone and couldn’t make a shot,” said Kurt Thomas, who fouled out with his first scoreless effort since Jan. 22, 2003.
Thomas may have been the worst Knick last night, but his misery had plenty of company.
They’d actually rolled through the second quarter and looked ready to build on this weekend’s win. A 24-8 run, sparked by reserves Jerome Williams and Maurice Taylor, left them leading 54-35 with :18.1 left in the half. They took a 54-38 lead into the locker room.
“The way you’re playing in the first half, to what we gave in the second half, it’s just unacceptable,” said PG Stephon Marbury. “The way we played in the second half, we didn’t play with any effort as a team. You have teams in this league that play with pride and they played with a lot of pride.”
Toronto opened the third quarter with a 22-4 run, capped by a Bosh hook shot for a 60-58 lead.
Marbury – scoreless at that point, but with eight assists – answered, scoring the Knicks’ next 10 points, and 18 of their next 20. His left-wing 3-pointer put the Knicks ahead 78-74 in the fourth quarter, and then he found Taylor for a spinning, acrobatic three-point play and 82-75 lead with 7:38 left.
But Toronto rallied yet again. The Knicks coughed up the next 13 consecutive points. The run reached 17-1, and the Knicks never responded.
“It’s disappointing,” said Jerome Williams, who had all 11 of his points in the second. “They just came out in the second half more determined than we were. Whenever you’re outscored in the second half by 28 by a team you had down by 16, it shows a lack of focus.”