Raptors at Knicks
The Toronto Raptors are healthy once again and on a roll, and they'll look to extend their winning streak to six in a row with a visit to the New York Knicks on Friday. With six players scoring at least 16 points, the Raptors picked up a 107-95 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Fred VanVleet led the balanced attack with 22 points while Pascal Siakam (18), Norman Powell (18) and Marc Gasol (17 on 7-of-7 shooting) - three players who recently returned from injury layoffs - were big factors. "I think it's a quirky thing that I have never seen before," Toronto coach Nick Nurse told reporters of the balanced line, which also included 16 points apiece for Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka. "But it also tells you that we're sending the ball to an open player. We're not really going through the same guys. We're moving it." The Knicks followed up a 20-point win at Cleveland with a 100-92 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. Marcus Morris scored 20 points in the loss as New York fell to 6-16 at home.
TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: Sportsnet One, MSG
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (30-14): Powell had his string of 20-point games snapped at five but he is averaging 22.7 points while shooting 58.5 percent from the floor in six contests since returning from a shoulder injury. Siakam is averaging 16.3 points in that same span after missing 11 games due to a groin issue. Gasol sat out 12 games because of a strained hamstring but has hit the ground running upon his return this month, posting 14 points per contest while shooting 58.3 percent from 3-point range.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (12-33): New York is taking some measure of pride in routing the Cavaliers and then pushing the Western Conference-leading Lakers to the wire. "I thought we got some pretty good looks at times, and just didn't get them to go," Knicks interim coach Mike Miller told reporters Wednesday. "We went into it and wanted to play good basketball. I think we went in and played good basketball. We're not out trying to play close games or anything like that, but we took a shot and we came up a few points short." Damyean Dotson scored 17 points off the bench and he's averaging 14.5 on 52.4 percent shooting in two games since fellow guard RJ Barrett went down with an ankle injury.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Knicks PG Dennis Smith Jr. (oblique) returned Wednesday after missing 13 games and was scoreless in four minutes.
2. Lowry has 3,754 assists as a Raptor, 16 behind the franchise's all-time leader in Jose Calderon.
3. Siakam scored 31 points in a rout of New York at home earlier this season to extend Toronto's winning streak in the series to seven.