Knicks fall short to Raptors as Anthony misses at the buzzer

This one was a tough one to deal with. The Knicks refuse to tank the season and last night they were just a couple of seconds away of a win against the Toronto Raptors.

Leading by as many as 17 points in the second quarter, the gap started to decrease slowly but surely in the third quarter and once the game went into the final act, the Raptors returned to the lead for the first time since the opening quarter.

DeMarr DeRozan scored 37 points for the Raptors, including the game winner. Down by two with 30 seconds on the clock, the Knicks went to Carmelo Anthony. Melo took a 17-foot jumper and missed but got his own rebound and sent the ball to Courtney Lee, wide open at the three point line. Lee’s jumper went straight in, giving the Knicks a one point lead with 10 seconds left.

With one foul to give, Derrick Rose defended at DeRozan but didn’t reached in and with the slight height advantage he had, Raptors’ shooting guard rose over Rose and delivered a two pointer that set the score at 92-91 with 1.9 on the clock.

Anthony tried once again to do what he does best and managed to launch a 25-foot three pointer as time expired but the ball hit the rim off the glass.

“I caught it and looked and didn’t see anybody right there. I was surprised to be that open. It was a wide-open shot. I made one the other day. I should’ve made that shot.”

This was Raptors’ sixth straight win over the Knicks who hadn’t won a game against Toronto since November 10th, 2015.

Anthony finished with 24 points while Rose and Lee added each 16. Lance Thomas had 12.

Center Joakim Noah underwent knee surgery and he is not expected to return this season.