The Toronto Raptors looked to be off to their fifth straight win with a strong performance in the first half against the New York Knicks.
Toronto led by 11 at halftime, but emerged as a disinterested and disorganized team in the third quarter. The Knicks capitalized, launching a 28-0 run as part of a dominant 41-10 quarter.
The 31-point swing made for the worst quarter in Raptors franchise history. Their previous mark for futility was minus-27. On the other side, it was the Knicks' most successful quarter in the shot-clock era.
The @nyknicks outscored Raptors 41-10 in 3rd quarter. The +31 margin is New York's best scoring margin in a quarter in the the shot-clock era (since 1954-55). pic.twitter.com/W3ipy30CkV
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 23, 2017
The Raptors utterly embarrassed themselves. They missed a few wide open layups and jumpers early on and couldn't be bothered to run back in transition, seeing their lead quickly evaporate. The starters were painfully slow and the bench followed suit.
Toronto tried to respond with increased urgency, mostly through spark-plug point guard Kyle Lowry, but it amounted to little more than sloppy overaggressive basketball. Lowry buoyed what little scoring they had with six free throws, but shot 0-of-4 and threw four turnovers to be a minus-29 in the quarter.
The Knicks, meanwhile, played together as one energized unit for the entire quarter. Tim Hardaway burned the Raptors for 12 points as part of a 38-point night, while Courtney Lee held DeMar DeRozan scoreless to go along with 11 points of his own.
That one run was all the Knicks needed. Toronto outscored the Knicks in every other quarter, but still fell 108-100 at the final buzzer.
