Add it to the painful list.
Right with the blown leads to the Bucks, Bulls, Hawks and Trail Blazers, excruciating setbacks that could have been avoided.
For the second time in three weeks, the struggling Raptors came to the Garden and cooled off the red-hot Knicks, rallying from 10 down in the fourth quarter. Even RJ Barrett’s dunk at the end of the regulation, giving the Knicks an extra five minutes, couldn’t save them.
They were manhandled for the bulk of the extra session, and fell to the Raptors, 123-121, at the Garden, as their strange home woes continued. With the loss, the Knicks (25-20) fell under .500 at home at 11-12 — the only winning team in the league with a losing record in its own building.
“It’s frustrating. Obviously we want to win at home,” Jalen Brunson said. “We have one of the best fan bases in the world, but this is obviously a historic place to play, so everybody’s coming here with their best foot forward. I think, for us, we just got to focus on the little things. A lot of these losses come [down to] one or two possessions. We have to be 1 percent, 2 percent better.”
Down six in the final minute of overtime, they made a frantic rally, and had a chance to win it in dramatic fashion, but Brunson’s 3-pointer at the horn hit off the back rim.
Scottie Barnes scores during the Raptors’ win over the Knicks on Jan. 16. Jason Szenes
RJ Barrett dunks late in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. Jason SzenesIt capped a frustrating setback that saw the Knicks’ two stars, Brunson and Julius Randle, shoot a combined 18-for-49 from the field and commit seven turnovers. Coach Tom Thibodeau’s team gave up 14 offensive rebounds, leading to 24 second-chance points, and sent the Raptors to the free-throw line a whopping 41 times, similar issues to their loss to Toronto at the Garden on Dec. 21 that snapped a season-best eight-game win streak. Thibodeau was critical of the officiating, saying it was hard to tell what was a foul.
“It’s a tough one. Especially when you fight so hard to be in position to win the game,” said Barrett, who scored a team-high 32 points. “It was such an up and down game. You want to come out with a win.”
The Knicks had plenty of chances to put the game away, but they couldn’t shake the Raptors (20-24).
Julius Randle dunks during the Knicks’ loss to the Raptors on Jan. 16. Jason SzenesWhen they went up seven early in the third quarter, Toronto answered with an 8-1 spurt. Early in the fourth quarter, the Knicks pushed their lead to a game-high 10, but the Raptors rallied again. It was only two after a Scottie Barnes’ 3-pointer, and even after a Quentin Grimes triple pushed the lead back to five with 3:22 to go, Fred VanVleet (33 points) reeled off five in a row to get Toronto even.
Two Barnes (26 points) free throws gave the Raptors a one-point lead with 12.1 seconds left in regulation, and after a Brunson miss, Barnes couldn’t put the game away. He split two at the line and Barrett went coast-to-coast for the game-tying slam, driving past Barnes for the uncontested two-handed jam with 0.6 seconds left, forcing overtime.
“It was right there up for grabs,” Barrett said.
Jalen Brunson shoots during the Knicks’ loss to the Raptors on Jan. 16. Jason SzenesIn overtime, OG Anunoby hit two 3-pointers and the Raptors were up six with 1:01 left. Randle (21 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists), however, turned a steal into a layup, Barrett hit two free throws and the Knicks had possession as the clock wound down. Brunson had time to get closer to the basket, but he opted to go for the win.
“I just [took] what the defense was giving me,” Brunson said after scoring 26 points along with seven rebounds. “I saw [my defender] back up. I saw the time. It’s a shot I work on all the time, and I thought it was good.”
Unfortunately, for the Knicks it was just off, and another winnable home game wound up as a disappointing loss.






