5. A Late Scratch For Smith At Derek Fisher’s pregame availability on Sunday night, the head coach told reporters J.R. Smith would suit up for the contest despite dealing with a small partial tear of the plantar fascia. After testing his left foot, Smith could not return to the floor and was sidelined for the third straight game. Smith did not practice on Monday afternoon and is listed as day-to-day.
4. Melo Fighting Through Pain Carmelo Anthony managed to score a game-high 34 points on Sunday night while nursing a sore left knee. For the second straight game, Anthony ignored the pain and attempted to lead his squad to a win. He’s been told the knee issue will most likely not get better or worse at the moment but rest during off days could help to alleviate some pain during game action. Overall, Anthony was solid from the floor, shooting 45.8 percent and terrific behind the arc where he buried 4-of-9 shots in 43 minutes of court time.
3. Limiting The East’s Top Team
The silver lining in Sunday’s defeat is the defensive effort from New York against the East’s top team. Toronto ranks No. 2 in the league in offensive efficiency and the Knicks held them to 95 total points (86 in regulation). Granted, the Raptors were missing DeMar DeRozan, but New York forced 24 Raptors turnovers and held them to 46 percent shooting from the floor.
2. Finding Success at the Stripe
A common theme for the Knicks this season is the disparity in free throw attempts against their opponents. Sunday night was a completely different story. New York reached the charity stripe 19 of the total 28 times in the first half and connected on 16 of those attempts. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Anthony were aggressive in forcing the action to increase the opportunities at the line. New York registered 10 more attempts in the game and the 23 points accumulated at the free throw line is hopefully a sign of a new trend developing for this team.
1. New Wrinkles to the Offense We viewed some traditional pick-and-roll action in Sunday’s game against the Raptors. Case in point was the 1-5 pick-and-roll executed to perfection between Jose Calderon and Amar’e Stoudemire with three minutes left in the fourth quarter that ended with a dime from the point guard to the big man for a one-handed dunk. In his postgame presser, Fisher explained the use of pick-and-roll sets as a layer to the Triangle and a way to flow into the Triangle offense and another option out of the Knicks base set. He added, “We have several things we do to start possessions that is still inside of our offense. We have continued to add things as our guys have become more comfortable with our basic stuff. Once you open that box it is hard to get guys back to our basic things.”