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2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Raptors

The Knicks have been handling the Raptors easily this season. Let’s hope it continues!

Let’s go, Knicks!

Winning four in a row is half of eight, and that’s pretty great!

189 replies on “2025-26 Game Thread: Knicks @ Raptors”

A 4-game winning streak would feel pretty good right about now, no matter how ugly it be.

oh no, don’t need jalen diving in to the stands just to fire up this lifeless squad…

time to hit the bench MB…see what tyler, huk, and mo can do…

OG, mikal, and KAT all need to sit for a while…

Fantastic defense by the Raptors, Knicks wandering around like they’re grocery shopping.

0-7, three turnovers, one bad challenge, first 2+ minutes.

Maybe we’re just getting the bad juju out early…

Only way the Knicks are winning this is if they run HARD without the ball. Raptors are just smothering them. Run hard, let the bench run hard.

Ooo, Tyler alert!

Yeah, two quick fouls. Needs to clean that up.

ESPECIALLY as it leads to Yabu.

In anticipation of this Knicks Raptors game, I went to both Marcus King sets at the Blue Note last night. MonoNeon played bass, Chris Dave on drums. Some of the best non-baseball entertainment LA has provided me in a long time. Hope you were in the room, JK.

Who’s going to score with this lineup? (Hart, Shamet Yabu, Diawara and Kolek being on the court now).

lucky to be down 10. shooting 30%, getting outrebounded and 6 TOs. Lack of hustle on that play where Raps got like 3 O rebounds

kAT has, like, no hops. 7-footer in a crowd, lacks the explosiveness to just dunk. He plays below the rim.
He vexes me.

I actually have Marcus King’s phone number. I once got hammered with him at the Surf Lodge and he invited me to Greenville. After he realized what he’d done he gave up drinking.

They’re just standing around. It’s inconceivable, as is said in The Princess Bride. Move, you loads of lard!

No, they just stand there, watching the guy with the ball…

Towns’ whining bothers me but I maintain he’s got a point about his whistle. Any theories as to this generally, whether as to its accuracy or the explanation?

Towns’ whining bothers me but I maintain he’s got a point about his whistle. Any theories as to this generally, whether as to its accuracy or the explanation?

I used to be sympathetic, but he’s so discombobulated that he ends up hitting defenders all the time. His limbs move in weird directions.

Noble, I think it’s true, but at least part of it is that he’s slow and ponderous, meaning his man can stay with him and whack away (and help can arrive for more whacking). He also drives into and through traffic more than anyone I’ve ever seen — just bulldozes his way to the rim.

I don’t even know if there are a lot of fouls, but there’s a ton of contact every time. A ref with a quick whistle could call it almost every drive.

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kAT has, like, no hops. 7-footer in a crowd, lacks the explosiveness to just dunk. He plays below the rim.
He vexes me.

Frank O.’s out on KAT meter: 12 out of 10

So Brown kept Huk in for offense instead of KAT in that last possession. They are so done with him.

i think kat is hard to officiate because so few players try to continue their drives when they don’t have one shoulder past the defender as he does

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18 FTs allowed in a half is way too much. Toronto is shooting 14-45, it’s the OREBs and FTs that have kept them ahead.

Knicks should hit more 3s.

Raptors tallest player is 6’9

7 foot all star Center

4 points . Didn’t score until the 2nd qtr.

I think Towns often gets mugged and gets no call, but he often initiates contact in an uncontrolled manner making a correct call a bit tougher to make. I don’t know if there’s any basis in fact on this, but when you complain a lot I think it turns the refs off and they just tune you out after awhile. They may also be a bit unintentionally biased against you.

Taking a quick moment to appreciate that I can ask a question here and immediately get multiple answers more intelligent than anything you can find elsewhere. The Knicks might not be all that but this place remains great.

That he looks like he’s in slow motion, his limbs fly everywhere, and he regularly continues drives every other player would recognize are doomed all probably contribute to it.

I think Towns often gets mugged and gets no call, but he often initiates contact in an uncontrolled manner making a correct call a bit tougher to make

Play to his height and dominate his defender . When smaller guys constantly shut you down . You’re not that good

KAT being failed yet again…

I don’t know if this was directed at me but it’s not what I was getting at. He remains by far the most culpable party for his own struggles. I mostly just find it somewhat curious, especially after being subjected to the Embiid show again recently.

went to check the knicks’ score to see if halftime had ended, saw the current score of the seemingly competitive game I was watching, and going back to the knicks…

Hart also continues drives that most other players would abandon. But then he makes the shot.

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mo is just soooooo long, and rarely leaves his feet…

him and huk make a lively front court defensive pair…josh has to get all the defensive rebounds, but…

It’s amazing to me how Bridges and Hart are so adept around the hoop. OG has to go for the dunk or it’s not going in, but those guys just have the touch even at full velocity.

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Make that 18.

And Kolek has 5 assists in his short time on the court.

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How are we gonna trade for Giannis when we have to send the Nets even more picks in the interests of fairness?

When we play good, we’re really really good. The hope is that they’re waiting for the playoffs to play like this the full 48 mins.

It’s games like this where OG’s defense is just so valuable.

Gotta close out the 4th tho. Don’t want a repeat of Philly game

It feels like this team can throw down a 35-19 beating in almost any quarter on almost any team when they’re on

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As said, play Kolek with 4 starters and he’s fine. I thought Brown understood that in the first half, then he brought in Diawara and Huk and Shamet and…wth, man. Hopefully this run in the third helped make it clearer.

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This Tyler Kolek character might be kinda good.

Knicks are finding the ball in their pocket right in a shooting sweet point.

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How does Bridges never look tired? Doesn’t sit the whole quarter, always sprinting on the break, barely sweats. OG looks like he needs an IV.

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How does Bridges never look tired?

you know who was also like that? nyk assistant mo cheeks

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What the hell happened?

I went upstairs at halftime to have an argument with my cousin’s dickhead husband and when I came downstairs we were blowing them away.

That OG to Bridges pass was incredible – plus the typical finish from Mikal

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Kolek is a terrific PG and his defense is not quite as bad as I feared. It’s all about shooting consistently and experience. If he can improve his shot consistency he’s going to be very good.

Got off work after eight o’clock. Turned on the radio in the car to hear Monica Mcnutt complaining how poorly the traling Knicks play. Ok, got it. Then I made it home to watch the last 16 minutes or so, and…the Knicks are literally running the Raptors out of the gym. Wtf???

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Teams should play full court pressure against the Knicks more often, not just in these situations. They are not great at it.

LP lost the broadcast, so i’m watching with no announcers, Geo. 😉

Edit: Lost the sound from the announcers, i mean.

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This was the hottest stretch of basketball Incan remember from the Knicks in a long time. As beautiful as it was unexpected. Feel like we went roughly 20-25 from three in the second half.

Hart is so goofy, make me laugh with those six shooters at the Raptors bench

This was the hottest stretch of basketball Incan remember from the Knicks in a long time. As beautiful as it was unexpected. Feel like we went roughly 20-25 from three in the second half.

And they are only 36% from deep for the game!

I think Yabu played well tonight. Wouldn’t have been upset if he came back for another few minutes before garbage time.

This is one of the best wins of the season. We are on the road, on a B2B, short handed, and Toronto was rested, fully incentivized to beat us and playing very well. I had no idea of gambling tonight, but in hindsight I probably should have bet Toronto and lost. So I feel like I won money by not betting.

Maybe they found out at halftime that no one important was getting traded. Hahaha

Especially nice after a brain-eating zombie-like first quarter that almost had me turn the game off.

wow, what a wild post game interview from mikal, not sure how much was serious or sarcasm…

I thought he was being earnest, Geo

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Nah, geo…I got nothing on top except some strays and have cut the sides and back really close at times but not ready for the full Kojak quite yet.

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well then that is some hard-core shit to spit out your mouth in front of the whole world…

yeah, I just watched it again, he was pretty unflinching while speaking…

well dang it, keep it up there mister mikal, stop slacking so much 🙂

Christmas was Mikal best game

That’s the right answer I suppose, even if he was more efficient today. This is probably his second best game though.

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ha, too funny z-man, I sort of remember the image from the article where you were standing up for some folks with less…

made me think about that clean style maybe giving you a bit of that sexy telly look…

Tyler Kolek team leading +23.

Maybe Towns is playing through some stuff and could use a few games off. We have to get his head on right and his shot straight.

Moussa Diabaté would’ve been a good get for the Knicks , but the Hornets most likely hold him. He has 20 rebounds tonight to JJJ 4 rebounds ..

Tyler Kolek with his head up at all times and driving the engine of this offense. I feel like he was primarily responsible for getting the team a win. Probably too simplistic, but he came in and the team went from lethargy to taking off like a rocket.

-KAT was very impactful despite the off shooting night.
-Kolek made the most of his opportunity, great job.
-Josh’s shooting continues to confound me.
-Brunson gutted it out despite being under the weather.
-The scrubs were all decent.

But the night belonged to Wingstop.

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I was shocked by the results. As noted above it was the second game of a back to back on the road against a team with a similar record and we were missing Mitch and Deuce. It felt like a schedule loss but wasn’t.

KAT was great on the boards, but their center tonight was 6’7”. Their biggest guy off the bench was Sandro at 6’9”. I’m gonna need to see something better.

“Owen, thanks for the link. Maybe his sentiments will rub off on the team.”

Well according to E he’s a coach-killer so probably not.

But seriously, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was being sort of positively passive-aggressive.

Brown talking about Kolek running the Nash!

That’s one of the things that turned me on about him initially. He should do that more often. If there’s nothing inside take it back out and you can often find someone open on the other side. Other times you can just change direction and go back inside again and score. It’s better than forcing a trash shot on the first attempt.

I’m really liking Tyler Murray as the new play-by-play guy, he has a great voice and really good chemistry with Clyde. It’s interesting that he cut his teeth doing mostly minor league baseball! Obviously there’s no one like Mike Breen but he’s got potential to be really good.

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Damn that second half was the best the Knicks have looked maybe all season.

Really great stuff.

Who was it who was mad they decided to throw this game instead of yesterday’s?

It’s tough when everyone is healthy but we should continue to find minutes for Kolek. Kid is a legit floor general.

we should continue to find minutes for Kolek.

right, maybe sub out jalen at about the 7 minute mark or so of the 1st and 3rd quarters just to get mikal, OG, and KAT going offensively…

I actually have Marcus King’s phone number. I once got hammered with him at the Surf Lodge and he invited me to Greenville. After he realized what he’d done he gave up drinking.

Call him and ask him to play more shows like last night, please. (Do you have any drinking stories about MonoNeon? Did you get a look at him under his head-sock?)

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