It’s been four long years since the Toronto Raptors competed in the postseason. To avoid a potential Eastern Conference play-in slot, the Raptors can’t lose to a team that has owned them for nearly as long.
Toronto (45-35), which just beat Miami twice in three days at home, travels to New York to take on the Knicks (52-28) on Friday. The Raptors will close the regular season on Sunday at home against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Raptors have an identical record to the Atlanta Hawks, and the teams sit in fifth and sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings. But the Orlando Magic enter play Friday one game back and could move out of the play-in and into the guaranteed playoffs if everything falls right.
The Raptors, who averaged 32 wins per season over the past three playoff-less campaigns, swept the four-game season series against Miami with a 128-114 victory on Thursday.
Brandon Ingram scored a season-high 38 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists. RJ Barrett had 22 points and six rebounds, and Collin Murray-Boyles added 17 points and eight rebounds.
According to the Toronto Sun, Ingram, who leads the Raptors with 21.5 points per game, set a franchise record for most total points in a season by a player in his first year with the team. Ingram, who now has 1,614, passed both Kawhi Leonard (1,596, 2018-19) and then Mike James (1,604, 2005-06).
“We need BI to be aggressive. We need him to be forceful. He did a good job not just scoring. He grabbed seven rebounds, seven assists today,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “How aggressive he is and his ability to get to the rim. I think that’s a game-changer.”
With Thursday’s win, Rajakovic joined Dwane Casey, Nick Nurse, Sam Mitchell and Lenny Wilkens as the only Toronto coaches with 100 career wins with the franchise.
One team he has yet to beat, however, is New York. The Knicks have won 12 straight against the Raptors, including four previous meetings this season. New York won each of those contests by double digits.
Coach Mike Brown’s club, which has won four straight overall, was victorious in its sixth straight game at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
It was a big win, too, as the Knicks took the season series from the Boston Celtics with a 112-106 victory. Josh Hart had 26 points, including two 3-pointers in the final minute, to lead New York.
Jalen Brunson had 25 points and 10 assists, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 16 points and 12 rebounds as the Knicks moved to two games behind Boston for the No. 2 seed in the East with two games to play.
In the process, Brown collected his 52nd victory, the most in one season for a Knicks head coach since the 2012-13 season, and one more than predecessor Tom Thibodeau had in his five seasons at the helm.
“It didn’t register that they had 51 wins (last season) or whatever, and I wasn’t trying to pass what they had last year. I was trying to hopefully help the team improve going into the playoffs and then hopefully make a run at this thing,” Brown said.
