NBA Matchups: December 9

New York Knicks at Toronto Raptors

Team Totals: Knicks 118.8, Raptors 112.8

Injury Report: Karl-Anthony Towns (Q, knee), Cam Payne (Q, elbow)

Knicks projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony-Towns

Raptors projected starters: R.J. Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl

Thibs quotes: Said they couldn’t get it going and they didn’t have a collective effort, said they didn’t have enough ball pressure against Cade, said KAT went through his pre-game routine and he just couldn’t give it a go, said Mitchell Robinson is making “steady progress” and he’s just doing light shooting.

Darko quotes: Said he told Boucher that he might be out of the rotation but “he’s a professional.”

Stats and Notes: 

*Karl-Anthony Towns should be back today after he was close to playing. Without KAT, the Knicks were a disaster on the defensive end, as they got smoked by the Pistons. On the year, the Knicks have been a big on-ball defensive funnel, as they have limited transition defense. The Knicks are seventh in transition points against, and the Raptors are seventh in transition possessions. It’s tough to peg how the Knicks look on defense as they’ve really had some air-balls, but the Raptors are just 23rd in halfcourt D. Toronto has the most rim possessions per game, and the Knicks actually allow the fewest rim possessions per game. The Knicks might be OK defensively. For the Knicks on offense, they get a pretty big rim funnel in the Raptors’ defense with the Raps allowing the sixth-most rim possessions in the NBA. 

*Scottie Barnes should get one of his toughest matchups possible, as he will certainly see a lot of OG Anunoby. His rim scoring is way down lately with 2-4 points in three of his last four games, and he’s failed to get to the line in his last two games. The good news is he’s had a huge role in the last two games, as he’s basically been the point guard. Still, I don’t really like this spot too much for Scottie.