Knicks squeeze out 122-120 win over Raptors in preseason finale

The Knicks looked like their championship selves Thursday night, beating the Toronto Raptors, 122-120, in their final preseason contest. New York finished the preseason 1-4.

Here are the takeaways…

— New York mounted its strongest performance of the preseason, avenging (can you seek revenge for a preseason game?) its 50-point loss to the Raptors on Tuesday. Despite falling behind early, New York quickly took the lead with confident threes, quick drives to the basket, and clean rebounds.

Advertisement

Overall, the team shot 48 percent from the field, 36 percent from behind the three-point line, and 78 percent from the free-throw line — the first two representing preseason bests.

— Though coach Mike Brown stayed true to his pregame promise of treating the matchup like a dress rehearsal for the regular season, affording his five starters — Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mo Diawara — real starter minutes for the first time, the winning effort came from players up and down the roster. (Diawara was starting in place of Josh Hart, who missed the game with ankle soreness.)

Eleven different Knicks saw the court across the first half. Every one of them scored at least two points, and six grabbed five or more. Aside from Pacome Dadiet, they each played six-plus minutes.

— Brunson, though, drove the effort, racking up 20 points, three rebounds, and seven assists across 29 minutes of play. He also went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line and landed his single three-point attempt.

Advertisement

— Towns had a huge impact at the high post, recording one-third of the Knicks’ 21 first-half assists (7 of 21) and rebounds (9 of 27). He finished the game just one assist shy of a preseason triple-double (13 points, 15 assists, 9 rebounds).

— After waiving Tony Bradley and Drew Eubanks during the day Thursday, the Knicks were left with just two candidates looking to fill the highly contested final slot: James Wiseman and Bruce Brown.

Only Wiseman played, and he only took the court in the waning minutes of the game. In that four-minute stint, he recorded two points and one rebound.

— Though Miles…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/knicks-raptors-preseason-takeaways-10-214437153.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-10-16 02:19:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.