Raptors fall short in Big Apple for season-high fourth straight loss

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In the Big Apple, the Raptors, for a change, weren’t rotten to the core.

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In fact, they were much better compared to the form they displayed entering New York’s Madison Square Garden, better known as basketball’s Mecca. They still weren’t good enough.

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By now, it should be made abundantly clear that this team is not very good, even when it goes through stretches where it plays well.

The good news for the Raptors is they’ll be home for the next four games. The bad news for the Raptors is they’ll return home having lost four games in a row, a season high.

For the record, Monday night’s 136-130 loss was Toronto’s sixth in its past seven games. There’s resilience when falling behind, but this group can’t sustain a high level of play over an extended stretch.

They can’t defend. And when they do show moments when stops are being produced, they yield open looks that lead to baskets.

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Even when games are decided late, which it was Monday when the Raptors valiantly fought back by extending the evening, it still resulted in a loss.

For what it’s worth, the Raptors were much more entertaining in Gotham, but it’s no consolation.

In an opening half when each side did a solid good job of protecting the basketball, the Raptors trailed 66-60.

The team’s Achilles heel, three-point shooting, meant the visitors were outscored by 12 from distance. It didn’t help, either, when the Raptors allowed the Knicks to shoot 54.5%, which highlighted another season-long weakness.

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Still, the Raptors were very much in the game against a somewhat undermanned Knicks team that entered the night having lost two in a row. To Toronto’s credit, the visitors forced more turnovers in the second half and made more shots.

TRES TERRIBLE

After going 0-for-6 from beyond the arc in Friday’s loss in Charlotte, OG Anunoby missed his first two looks from distance at MSG, including an abysmal airball from the left pocket.

He finally made a three-point shot, but he also missed a total of four heaves from beyond the arc in the game’s opening 24 minutes, when Anunoby went a combined 3-for-9 from the floor.

Anunoby came to life in the third quarter, scoring seven points in a 47-second span that included a three-point make and a dunk after the Raptors forced the Knicks to turn the ball over in the open court. He ended up with 15 points in the period on a night Anunoby led the Raptors in scoring by netting 29.

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As bad as Anunoby was against the Hornets, Gary Trent Jr. was even worse by going scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting. His struggles continued Monday night in an opening half that saw Trent make one of five shots, including 0-for-3 from three-point range.

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MOBY DICK

The start of the second quarter ushered in the return of rookie Gradey Dick, the Raptors’ first-round draft pick who has spent the better part of the past week refining his game with the team’s G League affiliate in Mississauga.

With the Raptors 905, Dick appeared in six games. Prior to Monday’s tip, Dick appeared in 15 games with the Raptors, his most recent appearance on Nov. 24 when he played nine minutes in a home win over the Chicago Bulls.

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The rookie was called for a foul when he tried to draw a charge. He then attacked the rim and was awarded a basket on a goaltending violation.

The Raptors have gone with a 10-man rotation. With veteran Otto Porter Jr. (foot) unavailable, it was felt they would perhaps go with a nine-man look.

It’s never a bad development when a kid such as Dick is given any amount of minutes. In his return, he played four first-half minutes, committed one foul and had a minus-6 rating.

Dick never saw the floor in the second half

In the game’s opening half, New York’s reserves outscored Toronto’s second unit 25-18. Chris Boucher missed all three of his three-point shots to join Trent in the three-point 0-fer club.

Toronto went with a much tighter rotation in the third quarter, a period that saw the visitors cut into the Knicks’ lead. In the final quarter, it was revealed Boucher had sustained a left thigh contusion and would not return.

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KNICKED UP

New York suffered a big blow in the hours leading up to tipoff when the team revealed big man Mitchell Robinson, a defensive pillar, will have surgery on his left ankle and be re-evaluated in eight to 10 weeks; Mitchell was hurt was during Friday night’s loss in Boston; Jericho Sims started at centre against the Raptors … New York was also missing shooting guard Immanuel Quickley (knee) … Barely 90 seconds into the game and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau called the game’s first timeout after watching the Raptors score on an uncontested drive to the hoop; the man known as Thibs had Donte DiVincenzo in the starting lineup for the injured Quickley; a couple of weeks ago in Toronto, DiVincenzo came off the bench to score 21 points on 7-for-9 shooting from distance in a 119-106 Knicks win; Quentin Grimes started when the teams last played on Dec. 1; coming off the bench in the return game, Grimes scored 13 points in 13 minutes; he drilled five three-balls on the night to lead all reserves with 19 points.

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