First Scottie Barnes. Then Karl-Anthony Towns. Finally, Jalen Brunson. Something is in the Toronto waters. Or maybe there’s something new in the air.
Barnes had already missed three weeks of action earlier in the season before he severely sprained his ankle in a third-quarter, Monday-night collision with Towns. He hopped on one foot from the court through the Scotiabank Arena corridors to the home locker room, never to return, likely to miss some time.
Towns, too, would need some assistance shortly after, turning his ankle on a drive to the rim.
And Brunson?
All hearts in New York City skipped a beat when the Knicks’ captain and floor general tripped over a fan sitting court side and gingerly walked directly to the locker room. He returned to the bench at the top of the fourth quarter and subbed back into the game with 6:35 left in regulation.
Crisis averted. The Knicks returned from their trip up North in one piece.
And after a rocky start, they returned with another tally in the win column, notching a 113-108 victory over the Raptors on Monday. After Saturday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Knicks are back on their regularly-scheduled programming. They have won five of their last six and 10 of their last 13 games.
And they began to draw some separation late in the fourth quarter, after Brunson emerged from the locker room, stepped foot back on the floor, and drew a foul on Toronto’s Davion Mitchell for a four-point play before leaving his left shooting arm hanging in the air for at least 10 seconds. He would go on to finish with 20 points and 11 assists on the night.
Towns returned to the rotation after missing the Pistons game with what the team called patellar tendinopathy in his left knee and finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals.
He scored the game-sealing baskets, first out of a timeout, where he set a screen on Brunson then rolled hard to the rim, where he was briefly left unguarded as two Raptors defenders attempted to trap the Knicks’ All-Star guard. And on the following possession, with less than 10 seconds in regulation, he made a three to put the Knicks up five.
His baskets lifted his career record in Toronto to 1-8.
“We’ve gotta get a win for this city no matter what,” Towns said, pointing to the ‘New York’ on his jersey, in the walk-off interview after the victory. “I was gonna do whatever it takes to get the W. Happy I could play and then hit the shot to give us a win.
“We them boys. I point to that jersey cause we put the work in. We do everything possible to win. I’m happy to win here. I haven’t won here in a long ass time.”
For the Raptors, all eyes were on RJ Barrett, even more so after Barnes went down due to injury. It was an emotional game for both teams: OG Anunoby made his return to Scotiabank Arena for the first time since his Dec. 30 trade to the Knicks, and Barrett hosted the team that drafted him No. 3 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, only to trade him for Anunoby last season.
Barrett finished with a game-high 30 points, adding onto to a career year in Toronto, but Anunoby rejected his attempt at a game-tying layup before Towns hit the three to put New York up five.
“I think we did a great job of staying connected,” Towns said. “Our discipline executing on offense and defense and the emotional intelligence to keep our emotions intact and do what it takes to get a win.”
The Knicks closed the game on a 12-1 run and are now 8-1 this season in games that follow a loss. They now prepare to host the Atlanta Hawks in an NBA Cup knockout round game on Wednesday, with the winner traveling to Las Vegas for a shot at the championship.
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