NBA Match Preview: New York Knicks vs Toronto Raptors
Only two days since their last meeting, New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors gear up for their third meeting of the season. Set at the Madison Square Garden, Knicks play host to the Raptors on Wednesday night.
With Amar’e Stoudemire enjoying his best season so far, the Knicks are currently on a roll. Given their recent win against Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, Knicks have risen to a five game winning streak. Although, their home score of 4-5 is a tad disappointing,
their road mark of 9-4 more than makes up for it giving the Knicks a comfortable spot in the standings at 13-9.
With two away and one home match last week, the Knicks recorded a perfect 3-0 mark. This was the first week in the season where the Knicks suffered no defeats. Knicks got their perfect week courtesy of Stoudemire. Scoring more than 30 points in all three
games, Stoudemire currently averages at 34.2 points with 11.0 rebounds. His performance, that led the Knicks to their first perfect week of the season, earned him the league honour of Player of the Week in the Eastern Conference.
Looking for his sixth straight 30-point game, Stoudemire might just help the Knicks get their longest winning streak in four years. Their last six game winning streak came in the 2005-2006 season. Coach Mike D’Antoni has full faith in Stoudemire and believes
that the star forward can bring more success to the team. He said, "I don't know if you can play any better than he has the last couple of weeks. His power, strength, now his outside shooting, his choices that he's making, just seems like it's easy."
Knicks’ latest win came this week on Monday, when they hosted and defeated the Timberwolves. In-form Stoudemire scored 34 points with 65.2 percent shooting leading the Knicks to their 121-114 win over Timberwolves. Raymond Felton recorded 11 assists, posting
his ninth double-double of the season.
Raptors are coming from their worst loss this season having lost 100-124 to Indiana Pacers on Monday. Although, they got off to a disappointing start this week, Raptors’ last week was comparatively better. With three home matches, Raptors registered a 2-1
mark for the week totalling their season mark to 8-13.
Their only loss last week came against the Knicks on Sunday. Suffering a 99-116 defeat, the Raptors fell 0-2 in their season head to head with the Knicks. Their first meeting of the season, coincidentally their first season match, came in late October. Hosting
the Knicks then, the Raptors had suffered a 5 point defeat with the scoreboard showing 93-98.
Their loss against the Pacers is by far their worst loss this season. Losing by a 24 point margin, Raptors’ stars failed to give the desired performance. Centre Andrea Bargnani who was averaging 21.9 points in the beginning of the season, is now averaging
16.2 having been held to only 12 points in the Raptors latest match.
Talking about their defeat against the Pacers, Bargnani said, "We have to come with more energy. We have to come more prepared. It seems like we are just watching the other team play and we are doing nothing."
With a 2-8 road record, will the Raptors suffer yet another loss as they visit the Knicks tonight? Will the Knicks up their head to head lead to 3-0? Or will the Raptors finally catch a much deserved break? All these questions will be answered after the
Knicks Raptors' matchup tonight.
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