With most guards injured, Knicks fall in Tampa to Raptors 100-83

By rady
Updated: January 1, 2021

It’s a tough start for Tim Thibodeau’s Knicks as an impressive number of his players are out with injuries. Frank Ntilikina made the injury list with a sprained knee before the game and the three ball didn’t fell through. As a resut, the Knicks fell 83-100 to the Raptors after three balanced quarters.

If the Knicks entered the contest as the best team in three point shooting, by the end of the game that stat was just a faded memory as they shot 2-20 at halftime and at the final buzzer they were 3-36.

Julius Randle led the Knicks with 16 points and 10 boards. Kevin Knox, who played the game on his hometown, added the same number of points off the bench. Elfrid Payton scored 14 points and dished 4 assists, RJ Barret had 12 points and 8 rebounds.

“Overall, we felt like it was a very winnable game for us. We just have to continue that throughout the course of the second half when we’re not hitting shots. I think it’ll be very rare for us to go 3-for-36 from the three-point line. So we’ll be fine. We’re encouraged. Get back to it.”

– Julius Randle

The Raptors, who won their first game of the season, were led by Fred Vanfleet’s 25 buckets. Kyle Lowery added 20 points.

Next up: Knicks (2-3) travel to Indianapolis on Sunday to take on the Pacers (4-1).