Quick Reaction: Knicks 111, Raptors 95

His numbers were understated, but he was okay when he was on the court, at least in some areas. Really strong hands defending in the pick and roll, forcing a few awkward gathers as he got his hands on the ball during drives. And he did it without fouling in the first half, too. He cleaned the glass in the first half but got beaten by Mitchell Robinson repeatedly in the second. And elsewhere defensively he was a letdown. With Barnes away from the rim guarding Brunson, Poeltl wasn’t able to lock down the paint.

He was strong, if quiet, early on. He defended Jalen Brunson very well in his time on the speedy guard, and the Raptors used him as Brunson’s primary. (I thought he gave up switches a little too easily, but that’s nit-picking, and much more about scheme than Barnes himself.) He forced tons of turnovers, especially during Toronto’s comeback in the third quarter. He attacked the glass and even found his way to an and-1 drive out of pick and roll with Poeltl. But the scoring really was limited in such a physical contest.

Even when the shots weren’t falling in the first half, I didn’t hate his choices in the game. He ran some smooth pick and rolls with Poeltl, and the assist total moved me. He was solid on defence and broke up some plays to lead to steals. He was generally where he was supposed to be on that end, which wasn’t true of all his teammates. When his triples started falling in the third quarter, the Raptors immediately closed the gap and found themselves in a very close game.

An unbelievable first half. Opened with some triples. Got to the rim. Then he started cooking in the mid-range, drawing plenty of fouls with his work there, too. It wasn’t perfect; committed a completely unforced eight-second violation walking the ball up the floor late in the third. And the scoring tailed off in the second half. Still, he was one of the only reasons Toronto stayed in this game so long.

A real tale of the two sides of the ball. He looked much, much burstier on the drive. Took over in the fourth for a stretch with some mid-range and rim points, using screens very well. In the second quarter, he had a fantastic spin move through the Knicks’ entire defence. And yet defensively he was getting torched, giving up blowbys and putting Toronto’s help defence in very difficult positions. Gave up easy blowbys when closing out, too. The scoring was nice, but the defence was more impactful (to the negative), in my eyes.

One of his worst games, though he did redeem himself slightly with some second-half defence. Was not himself offensively in the first half, and he was getting beat for rebounds and in space defensively. The Knicks are a physical team, and Mamukelashvili usually meets those challenges. He didn’t in the first half. In the second half, he was much better. Fought with more resilience on the glass. Moved his feet defensively on a switch and blocked a pull-up jumper from Jose Alvarado. He wasn’t drawing fouls in the second half on his rim attempts and couldn’t finish through contact.

Garbage time.

Garbage time.

Was hounding Brunson when he was in the game, or at least trying to. The Raptors had one of Shead or Barnes on the court at all times to make sure one was guarding Brunson. He picked up a cheap foul early, but he also forced a turnover and generally made Brunson’s life painful and difficult. He also drove for a layup in the half court, which is notable. He had some sloppy turnovers. In the third, he drove, juked, stepped through, and lobbed to Barnes for a dunk. But in the fourth, Brunson scored with relative ease with Shead guarding him. Tough.

Toronto got absolutely shelled in his time in the first half, losing his seven minutes by 20 points. It’s not entirely Walter’s fault, but the numbers did show his inability to compete, at the very least. He defended poorly by his standards, and he was basically a zilch on offence. The Knicks are beatable when they’re playing defence, but everyone needs to be a threat, and Walter wasn’t. In the third quarter, he forced a turnover on an inbounds with a heads-up defensive play.

Just wasn’t doing much in his few minutes in the first half, and didn’t get run in the second. Rajakovic used a tight, playoff-style rotation in this one, and Battle saw his role slashed as a result. .

Garbage time.

Garbage time.

Garbage time.

With Barnes and Poeltl both guarding shooters, who was supposed to protect the rim? Barnes did a great job defending Brunson, yet the Knicks scored with ease when they weren’t turning over the ball. I thought Rajakovic’s matchup choices played into that. And the clutch offence was terrible, but that’s not really on the coach very much. Toronto did work its way back into the game, which is solid.