TORONTO — New York’s much-improved defense locked up when it was most needed.
In a tight game midway through the fourth quarter, the Knicks held the Raptors to just two points in the final five minutes and left Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday with a 111-95 victory and a season sweep of the division foe.
Trailing by two points after Immanuel Quickley’s runner with 5:50 left, the Raptors missed four straight buckets with two turnovers while under the pressure of the Knicks’ swarming defense.
The Knicks (40-22), who own the NBA’s top-ranked defense over their last 19 games, closed the win with a 16-2 run.
The critical point was a Jalen Brunson steal with about two minutes left, which he turned into an assist on Josh Hart’s layup on the other end. It gave the Knicks an 11-point lead as Raptors fans funneled to the exits.
Brunson finished with a team-high 26 points and 10 assists, but the offense was a group effort. Karl-Anthony Towns was also efficient with 21 points, 13 boards and six assists on 10-for-17 shooting.
OG Anunoby added 15 points. And until further notice — which won’t come until next season or the playoffs — the Knicks own the Raptors.
The Raptors (35-26) arrived with a point to prove. They’re rejuvenated this season and returning to the playoffs, but they can’t compete with the Knicks. In the three previous matchups before Tuesday, the Knicks blew out their division rival.
In fact, the Knicks haven’t lost to the Raptors in three years — a stretch that’s now reached 12 straight Knicks victories — which includes a 10-0 record since Anunoby was swapped for RJ Barrett and Quickley.
“Anytime you play anybody that has beat you three times [in a season], you want to come out on the right end,” Quickley said before the game. “Doesn’t matter if it’s the Knicks. Doesn’t matter if it’s anybody that has beat you. You want to come out on the right end.”
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic acknowledged the Knicks as the bar.
“We have taken strides as an organization this season. For us, next step is playing high level against best teams in the league,” Rajakovic said, adding later, “The game [Tuesday] should show that. We’ve got a really good sample size to look at the film playing against them. We looked at the stuff that they run for us. Hopefully tonight we can make strides and do better on both sides.”
The Knicks were also prioritizing Tuesday’s game. Mike Brown said he decided to play Mitchell Robinson, who always rests one game of a back-to-back, against the Raptors instead of Wednesday’s home contest against the mighty Thunder.
The coach said that was because the Raptors are in the East. The Thunder are not.
And Brown’s team followed up with a win that kept the Knicks at No. 3 in the East, 4 ¹/₂ games clear of the No. 5 Raptors.
There’s a chance of a playoff matchup between the Raptors and Knicks. The most realistic path is a first-round series if the Knicks, currently seeded third, slip to fourth and the Raptors stay at No. 5.
That should be the preferred matchup for the Knicks, rather than facing the Sixers, Magic or Heat. But falling to fourth also means the Knicks could meet the Pistons in the second round — something they shouldn’t want.
There’s a lot left to unfold. But the four-game regular-season series between the Raptors and Knicks finished with an overwhelming winner and a stout defense to complete the sweep.
