Empire Writes Back
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New York Knicks Fall Short in Overtime Against Toronto Raptors

By Kenneth Teape

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81. Final. 90. 27. 95

It was a valiant effort put forth tonight by the New York Knicks, but it wasn’t enough as they fell to the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden Sunday night in overtime. The Knicks gave the Atlantic Division leading Raptors all they had, has the game was close throughout; neither team led by double-digits the whole game. The loss drops the Knicks record to 5-21 on the season, and 3-10 at MSG. The Knicks will be back at it Tuesday night when they host the Dallas Mavericks.

Player of the Game: Amar’e Stoudemire

Stoudemire wasn’t his normal self on the offensive side of the ball tonight as he shot only 3-7 from the field and 4-7 from the foul line. Where he makes up for it tonight was on the defensive end of the court. Stoudemire stuffed the stat sheet with defensive stats, getting five steals and blocking two shots. He even dove on the ground for a couple of balls, something that is rarely seen from any Knick player, let alone one as fragile as Stoudemire. He also continued his torrid pace on the boards, pulling down eight rebounds, five of the offensive variety. It all equated to a +3 rating, one of only three Knicks to accomplish that feat.

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-Melo Fills It Up

Carmelo Anthony did what he does best Sunday night; score the ball. Anthony poured in a game-high 34 points on 11-24 from the field, 4-9 from deep and 8-10 from the foul line. He also added nine rebounds, three assists and one steal.

Unfortunately he couldn’t get it done when the Knicks needed it most, as Anthony shot 1-4 in the overtime period with an offensive foul. Once again Anthony came up a little short when the Knicks needed him most.

-THJ Cools Down

Tim Hardaway Jr. was forced into extended minutes tonight with Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith both being unable to suit up. It was a mixed bag for Hardaway Jr. tonight, as he struggled with his shot, going 4-15 from the field. He also turned the ball over five times.

On a positive note though, Hardaway Jr. made a living at the free throw line, making all nine of his attempts to help get him to 18 points on the evening. Most surprising, and a welcome thing to see, was the things he added to outside of his scoring. He grabbed six rebounds, a career high, to go with two assists. It was nice to see Hardaway Jr. provide some production in other areas with his shot not falling.

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-Positive Free Throw Discrepancy…For Once

In a change of events, the Knicks actually came out on the positive side of the free throw battle, and was a big reason for them even being in it tonight. Some of the misses hurt in overtime by Stoudemire, but getting to the charity stripe 28 times is an impressive number for the Knicks. They were able to make 23 of them, for a strong 82.1 percent. On the contrary, the Raptors attempted only 18 free throws, making 14 for 77.8 percent.

-Sluggish Offense

The free throw attempts helped the Knicks greatly tonight, as they were unable to get it going offensively. For the game they shot only 37.2 percent and 31 percent from deep. No one on the team shot 50 percent, as Jose Calderon was the closest at 46.1 percent. Even more discouraging is the ball security the Knicks displayed throughout the night. They turned the ball over 25 times, leading to 20 Raptors points. Seven different Knicks had multiple turnovers, as the whole starting lineup outside of Quincy Acy had at least two each.

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