Raptors survive surge from Knicks, snap losing streak

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The Raptors finally found a way to hold onto a big lead.

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The secret was build one early, give it up by the end of the third quarter and then start building a new one.

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The strategy worked to perfection Sunday in a 125-116 win over the New York Knicks before a rare non-sellout crowd at Scotiabank Arena.

A few hundred shy of the standard 19,800 saw the Raptors build a 17-point lead in the early going and then give it all up by the end fo the third quarter as the Knicks came storming back on the strength of a run of three-pointers from the likes of R.J. Barrett, Evan Fournier and Jalen Brunson.

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But the Knicks struck too early as Toronto struck back with a barrage of their own from a big lineup to start the fourth that included Chris Boucher, Precious Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes, Juancho Hernangomez and Gary Trent Jr.

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Normally, those minutes without either Pascal Siakam or Fred VanVleet are keep-it-even at best but on this night Boucher, who was almost the entire offensive bench production for the night, and Hernangomez meshed so well with Trent Jr., Achiuwa and Barnes that coach Nick Nurse stuck with them until there was just over three minutes left in the game.

At that point, VanVleet and Siakam returned to finish of the game but did so with a double-digit lead to work with.

The Raptors got solid contriubutions from all their starters including a season-high tying six three-pointers from Trent Jr. in a 24-point night. Trent Jr. didn’t even finish the night on the court fouling out with just over a minute to go.

VanVleet, who has re-located his shooting touch these past few games continued that trend with 28 points including 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc.

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The Knicks were led by Mississauga native RJ Barrett, who had 30.

 NO O.G. FOR NOW

Raptors defensive player of the year candidate O.G. Anunoby sat out Sunday’s game with right ankle soreness.

Anunoby underwent an MRI earlier yesterday and the team was still waiting on the results.

Taking his place in the starting five last night was Precious Achiuwa, who has been looking more and more like the second-half Achiuwa of last season these past few games.

SO, ABOUT THAT DEFENCE

The Raptors half-court offence has been a topic of discussion for much of the year and it appears it will be for the remainder of the season.

But in terms of the area that is causing the team the most grief right now, it’s not even a question of debate.

Normally an above average team going back to the days of Dwayne Casey and throughout Nurse’s tenure, the defence has taken a decided wrong turn this year.

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“The defence has fallen back,” Nurse conceded. “We’ve been talking about that around here quite a bit. There’s areas of all of it that needs shoring up. I don’t know if I should start at the beginning or the end. The transition was a big problem. That’s getting better. The defensive rebounding was a problem, that’s getting better.”

But what’s not getting better is the Raptors’ ability to defend the three-point line.

“We give up a high volume of 3s normally, but a fairly low percentage,” Nurse said. “So we finish in the 20s in the volume given up but our 3-point defence will be pretty high, which means we’re contesting pretty hard. We haven’t contested nearly as well, either.”

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Nurse believes the fix is still there on this roster.

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“The list is long,” Nurse said of the defensive to-do jobs. “We’re getting through it. But we expect to get through it. There’s a lot of basketball to be played yet. The guys in that room can play it.”

KOLOKO MAKES AN IMPRESSION

Rookie centre Christian Koloko was expected to see a healthy dose of G-Leauge time heading into this season. But Kokoko had such a good training camp and pre-season that it is only now that he is finally experiencing life in the G-League.

Pascal Siakam, who saw his fair share of time there as a rookie, sent out a message on social media to his countryman to take advantage of the opportunity to work on his game rather than take it as some sort of demotion.

In his first game with the 905, Koloko contributed with six blocks in his first game down there and it caught Nurse’s attention.

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“I’m a guy that says man if you’re a shot blocker man keep swinging,” Nurse said. “Like swing, swing, swing like you know that’s a skill you have and it’s such a valuable thing to go get them.

“It was good to see him, he took a lot of swings last night and he got a piece of a lot of them,” Nurse said. “I mean he ideally is a rim lob threat and a shot blocker, right? He’s really smart, he’s a good pro, he’s a hard worker. If he can take those two things up, that fills a big role for us”

The issue at the NBA level has been his inability to take those swings without being called continually for fouls.

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