New York Knicks’ Offense Falters In Loss To Toronto Raptors

Oct 13, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks point guard

(3) drives on Toronto Raptors point guard

(21) during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors put on a performance Monday night that is the epitome of preseason basketball, as the Raptors came away with an 81-76 win. The play was ragged more often than not, with both teams looking out of sync for the most part. These things are expected in the preseason, as guys are playing together for the first time and new schemes are being implemented by coaching staffs. Even with it being a preseason game, there were some things to take away from the game for the Knicks.

-Bench Struggles

With the Knicks scheduled to play again Tuesday night with a back-to-back in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, many of the starters and regulars saw limited minutes tonight. Quincy Acy played thirty minutes, but no other starter played more than 19.

With extra minutes, some bench players got extended looks, but no one really took advantage of the extra minutes. The plus/minus stats are rough, and as a whole it wasn’t pretty, but one player who stood out was Cleanthony Early.

Early struggled with his shot like many of players in the game, but he showed good resiliency as he continued to show aggressiveness on the offensive side even with the early struggles.

Jason Smith also got his first minutes as a Knick, and he gave the team 18 good minutes, scoring six points to go with four rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

More from New York Knicks

• New York Knicks Fall to Eighth After NBA Draft Lottery
• New York Knicks: Players to Draft in Worst-Case Lottery Scenario
• New York Knicks: Three Players Who Should Thrive Under Tom Thibodeau
• Is Devin Booker to the New York Knicks Realistic?
• New York Knicks: Tom Thibodeau Officially Hired as Head Coach

-Shooting Struggles

While it is preseason, shooting the way the Knicks did tonight shouldn’t happen in any game situation. The Knicks overall shooting percentage was 37.8 percent on the night, making 31-82 in the game. But taking a closer look, you’ll see that it was the jump shooting where the Knicks struggled.

As a team, the Knicks shot an abysmal 3-23 from the three point line, good for 13 percent. This was another area that the Knicks’ bench struggled in, as the starters made two of their six attempts while the bench made only one of 17. J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. both couldn’t find their stroke tonight, as the two combined to go 0-9. Early was the only bench player to make a shot from long distance.

The Knicks shooting struggles continued at the free throw line as well, as they made only 11-18, equaling 61.1 percent. The shooting percentages from the foul line and three point line can be pointed at as big reasons the Knicks fell to the Raptors Monday night.

-Starting Lineup Found?

For the second straight game, head coach Derek Fisher went with a starting lineup of Jose Calderon, Iman Shumpert, Carmelo Anthony, Acy and Samuel Dalembert. While Andrea Bargnani was still sidelined and started the first game, you have to wonder if this will be the lineup Fisher goes with to start the season.

The longer this set of five plays together, the more and more likely they will be the ones to start games once they start to matter at the end of October. Acy played big minutes on Monday night, and looks like he has carved out a role on this team. Right now it looks like he may come as the starting power forward, but until Bargnani returns no one will know for sure.