25/82: December 10th vs. NYK

Final Score: Raptors 108, Knicks 113

As they’ve been saying, the “ethical tanking” continues.

Ja’Kobe Walter’s best night of the season was spoiled by a New York comeback victory Monday night. He finished with 19 points on 50% shooting.

It was the only NBA action Monday night, a weird evening scheduling-wise. RJ Barrett’s efficient 30 points were not enough as the Knicks won the fourth quarter scoring 30-22. Jakob Poeltl finished with another double-double in what’s been a great season for him individually.

Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 67 points. Former Raptor Precious Achiuwa played well defensively off the bench for two blocks. OG Anunoby’s defense was also much apparent, adding two steals and three blocks of his own. He stuffed the stat sheet against his former team.

An uncharacteristically bad free-throw shooting night did not prevent the Knicks from winning in what was a close matchup. For the season, the Knicks are leading the NBA at 81.5% on free throws, their best season at the line since before 2003-04. That was LeBron’s rookie season, to give you a sense of how long it’s been.

Odd when that happens, but that’s why we all love sports!

Question for the Knicks: With New York playing so well in so many different stat categories over the first 20-ish games, how realistic would it be to keep those stats up all season?

The Raptors take their talents to South Beach to play Miami on Thursday. 7:30pm tip off.