Knicks at Raptors
All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan has taken his game to another level during the early stages of this season and he looks for another strong effort when the Toronto Raptors host the New York Knicks on Saturday. DeRozan has topped 30 points in seven of Toronto's eight games and leads the NBA with a 34.1 scoring average.
DeRozan scored 34 points in Friday's 113-111 victory over the Charlotte Hornets as the Raptors overcame a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to win for the fifth time in six games. "We've got a lot of playoff experience now and we know how hard it is to win and what it takes to win," DeRozan told reporters afterward. "We thrive in moments like this -- and that's what it came down to." New York didn't thrive and pretty much took a dive while being routed 115-87 by the Boston Celtics on Friday. All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony was ejected in the second quarter and the game soon got away as the Knicks lost for the fourth time in six games.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), TSN (Toronto)
ABOUT THE KNICKS (3-5): Anthony had 12 points before his ejection that occurred with New York trailing by six and his teammates didn't respond well to his absence. "When he gets kicked out early like that, he was playing well," Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters afterward. "We were hanging in there in the game." The ejection halted Anthony's streak of 20-point outings at six and point guard Derrick Rose was unable to pick up the slack while scoring a season-low 11 points, and has yet to reach 20 since joining the Knicks.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (6-2): DeRozan averaged a career-best 23.5 points last season while shooting 44.6 percent from the field but the 27-year-old has remarkably elevated his play. He operates in the mid-range area and seldom shoots a 3-point shot and his ability to drive to the basket has continued to get better each season. DeRozan is shooting 53.3 percent from the field and his 14-of-26 effort against the Hornets marked the sixth time he has shot better than 53 percent in a game this season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Raptors have won three straight meetings and four of the past five.
2. New York SG Courtney Lee had just one point against Boston after scoring in double figures in four straight games.
3. Toronto PG Kyle Lowry (19 points versus Charlotte) has scored in double digits in each game but has just one 20-point outing.