This is the teams' second meeting in three days: the first game took place on 14 October in Toronto, and now they face each other in New York. This will be the Toronto Raptors' penultimate warm-up game, with a trip to Detroit the following day. After two pre-season defeats, the reigning NBA champions, the New York Knicks, will conclude their warm-up schedule ahead of the season's start on 20 October.
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks are defending their first championship title in 53 years, but their situation is far more complicated. They have lost all four pre-season games, with the heavy defeat to the Toronto Raptors the most painful: first came a 97:120 defeat away to the Philadelphia 76ers, where the starters played 14-15 minutes each, followed by a 109:111 home loss to the Washington Wizards, featuring Anthony Davis and Trae Young. The subsequent games brought no improvement — a heavy defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves (104:122) and that dismal loss to the Raptors (98:148), in which only four players scored in double figures.
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors began pre-season with a heavy defeat to Miami (105:129 in Quebec), but then comfortably beat the Los Angeles Clippers (114:106 in Vancouver): they shot 56% from the field and 41% from beyond the arc, won the rebounding battle by +16, and RJ Barrett (20 points) and Immanuel Quickley (18) combined to make 13 of 19 field-goal attempts and eight of 11 three-pointers. Scottie Barnes, Barrett and Quickley remain the key players, but the squad are short-handed: Brandon Ingram, Collin Murray-Boyles, Nate Bittle and two other players are on the injury list. Jakob Poeltl and All-Rookie Team selection Murray-Boyles will compete for the starting centre spot at the beginning of the season. The Raptors will begin the regular season on 21 October with a home game against the Chicago Bulls.
New York Knicks vs Toronto Raptors Prediction
The champions have the edge in squad quality: the New York Knicks are at home, have one final chance to fine-tune their game and will surely try to end their losing run after criticism from Mike Brown. The Toronto Raptors have less reason to go all out: first, they play in Detroit the following evening, and second, some of their key players are unavailable. The main risk is pre-season rotation — reserve players often get the decisive minutes in these games.
