-The New York Knicks put on an offensive clinic in a 116 to 99 destruction of the Toronto Raptors this afternoon at the Air Canada Center. New York jumped out to a 16 point lead, and while the Raps closed the gap to as few as 7 at times, the Knicks were never really threatened, and pulled away for good early in the fourth quarter.
-Amar'e Stoudemire was unstoppable posting 31 points and 16 rebounds on the Dinos, but he got lots of help from his Knicks teammates around the perimeter, who dropped in 12 three-pointers on the afternoon. Landry Fields, Wilson Chandler, Shawne Williams and Raymond Felton all dropped in double figure scoring performances, and Toronto just couldn't keep up.
-There were a myriad of issues for the Dinos on this afternoon though so it wasn't all "what New York did." Toronto shot a dismal 11 of 22 from the free-throw line, missed numerous open looks, and had 13 turnovers, many of these as the result of players trying to do too much. Throw in some sketchy personnel decisions by Jay Triano and you have all the makings of a loss.
-The lone bright spots for the Raps on the afternoon were Amir Johnson and Jerryd Bayless. Amir had a break-out game with 22 points and 16 rebounds (8 of these on the offensive glass) taking only 14 shots (making 10), while Bayless played 27 minutes posting 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. His five 3-pointers were instrumental in fact in keeping Toronto in this one.
-The rest of the Raptors? Ugh. DeRozan was pretty invisible on the afternoon, Sonny Weems looked like he was back in the D League, Andrea Bargnani hit on only 8 of his 19 shots and wasn't nearly aggressive enough inside, Jose Calderon was a team-worst -22 on the afternoon and Linas Kleiza made another case for being the first victim of the Bryan Colangelo's "immediate free-agent flip." Ed Davis and Leandro Barbosa were the only other Raptors worth their weight on the afternoon, and now Toronto has to forget this one and head to Indiana for a tough match tomorrow night.