Raptors 104, Knicks 99: Scenes from a record-tying loss

I’ll be honest: This one kinda hurt. The New York Knicks, losers of 15 straight, played a heck of a game against the second-place team in the East, the Toronto Raptors. Coming on the second night of a back-to-back, and facing a blizzard of Kyle Lowry 30-foot threes and floppity-flops, I figured the ‘Bockers would wilt early. but they scrapped and clawed and stayed in it until the final whistle.

Down seven late, Kevin Knox cut it to three with a clutch triple.

And the Knicks got a couple of stops! Unfortunately, they didn’t have the juice on offense to get that tying bucket. Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t quite up to the task late — he was pretty bad all game, as a matter of fact — and there were a few too many Mario Hezonja shots for my liking. Anyhoo ... Raptors 104, Knicks 99.

With the loss, the Knicks have clinch a tie for the longest single-season losing streak in franchise history.

Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson and Kadeem Allen were your heroes tonight. Knox scored 20 points on wet jumpers like this.

And he even threw in a couple of zesty passes for good measure.

Allen helped lead the charge in the second half with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. And Robinson continued his recent run of beastly play with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Miranda will have the recap. Excelsior.