905 unable to recover from early drubbing by Knicks
On Friday night, the two greatest cities in the world played basketball against each other. No, I’m not talking about New York City and our beloved Toronto. I’m referring, of course, to Mississauga, Ont. and Westchester County, NY. Ok, Westchester is a county, not a city, but I tried.
The Westchester Knicks (5-4) came out on top winning 129-109 over the Raptors 905 (3-8) in Mississauga, although the final 42 minutes of the game were nearly even.
On the first possession, Dylan Disu had a block near the rim, then canned a catch-and-shoot 3 from the wing on the other side of the floor. That was the only time the 905 led.
The following six minutes or so were both unlucky and ugly for the home side. A barrage of 3s – and some easy transition looks – got the Knicks out to a 27-9 lead.
T.J. Warren cashed all three of his 3s in this stretch and Chuma Okeke made 2-of-2. As a whole, the Knicks made seven of their first eight triples. Westchester eventually cooled off from their unsustainably hot start but still made 15-of-36 (41.7 percent) from distance compared to the 905’s 8-of-29 (27.6 percent).
The Knicks came into the game ranked first in both offensive rebounds per game (18) and offensive rebounding percentage (40.0). When a team crashes the glass this much, will there be transition opportunities going the other way?
“Absolutely,” said Raptors 905 head coach Drew Jones prior to the game. “We’ve been top five in pace all season, so we know that if a team is going to do that, we’ve got to make them pay.”
Yet, this didn’t come to fruition, and it was the Knicks who out-paced the 905 on the break, leading 17-2 in transition scoring through the first three quarters. They also grabbed nine offensive boards to the 905’s 3.
The 905 did manage to cut into the first quarter lead with a little 13-4 run of their own. Tyreke Key scored nice buckets on back-to-back possessions, cashing a turn-around jumper and finishing after freeing himself up with a nice backdoor 45 cut.
After not scoring at all in the first quarter, Kennedy Chandler put up 13 in the second. This included a 9-2 905 run where he scored or assisted on all nine points.
The five-foot-11 guard got to the rim twice in a row, first finishing with a layup, then finding Tyreke Key on another back-cut for an easy make. The next possession, Chandler grabbed a steal and ran it the other way for a dunk. Then he drove for another finish at the hoop, this time an and-one.
Yet, the Knicks quickly made up the difference. The 905 went to a 2-3 zone and Pacome Dadiet knocked down an open 3 from the wing.
What occurred next was funny, if you look at objectively.
Ulrich Chomche made a casual inbound pass while T.J. Warren ran to pressure him, resulting in a turnover and instant bucket. On the very next inbound, pretty much the exact same thing happened. It was like when someone catches a friend not paying attention in NBA 2K, and it happened twice in a row. Coach Jones instantly called a timeout.
Of course, Chomche is only 18 – the youngest player taken in the 2024 NBA draft and the youngest player on an NBA roster. There will be plenty of growing pains and we should all be tolerant of his mistakes. These two turnovers might be an exception though, they were real bad.
The six-foot-10 Cameroonian big-man didn’t score a basket in his 13 minutes, but did have five rebounds, two blocks, and no personal fouls in his return after missing two games due to illness.
On Tuesday the 905 suffered their worst loss of the season; a 35-point clobbering by the first placed Greensboro Swarm. Then on Thursday, in front of a G League record crowd of 19,257, they won by their largest margin of the season against the same Swarm.
“The first thing I told our guys coming out of halftime last game was that we have to have the urgency as if we’re down 20,” said Jones. “I went into the locker room and said ‘what’s the score?’ And I think one guy told me like the actual score. And then one of our guys said ‘coach we’re down 20’ and that’s the mentality we have to have. That level of urgency every single night.”
Unfortunately for the 905 they were actually down 20 at half in this game, 74-54.
Tylor Perry had a spirited run of play in the second half where he knocked down a 3, forced a turnover with some dogged defensive pressure on the ball, and took a charge. This earned him an extended look in the final quarter. After the game, I asked coach Jones about Perry’s play.
“Aggressive, very gritty, small but fiery and he can really shoot the ball,” said Jones. “He’s got a high IQ. Obviously size wise, he was a bit overmatched tonight with their taller guards, but he competes.”
Another small guard, Evan Gilyard, took a charge shortly after Perry did and also showed positive flashes.
Gilyard was the sole 905er who impressed to start the game, first grabbing a steal in the backcourt for an easy layup. The next offensive possession he drove and got a nice middy pull up to go.
In the fourth, the 905 made a push, led by Chandler’s relentless drives to the rim. He dashed off of handoffs into space and showed an ability to oscillate between speeds, slowing down as he approached the paint, freezing defenders, then exploding by them with his impressive fast-twitch burst to the rim. The Tennessee product scored eight in the frame mostly in this fashion, and all at the rim. Chandler finished with 26 points on 12-of-21 shooting (11-of-16 from 2-point range) and added six assists.
But for every drive and finish he had, Westchester’s Donovan Williams had an answer. He overmatched 905 defenders with his quick long strides, strength, and overall will to go for it on takes. Williams finished with 38, shot 10-of-11 from 2, 3-of-5 from 3, and 6-of-6 from the line.
Perry played more great on-ball defence on Boo Buie III (awesome name) off a switch, shifting his feet in a flurry to keep Buie III in front, deterring his drive late enough into the shot clock that Disu had time to come over in help with a thunderous block – his fourth of the game.
The score was 110-100 for the Knicks with just over five minutes left, but just when it looked like the comeback had a chance, some miscommunication and blown defensive coverages did the 905 in. Warren and Okeke got lost behind the defence and scored with ease on back-to-back possessions, Okeke followed with a 3, and that was it. A close game, if you take out the first six minutes.
Notes
- Warren scored 30 and is third in the G League averaging 26.4 points per game.
- This was the first time this season that the Raptors 905 repeated a starting lineup. Prior to this game they had used 10 different starting fives in 10 games. This was partially due to Branden Carlson leaving after starting the first three, Quincey Guerrier spending some time away with Team Canada, players coming down on assignment from the Toronto Raptors, and injuries. However, the 905’s struggles with running a cohesive halfcourt offence, communicating on defence, and making reads on both ends are understandable when you consider the personnel volatility they’ve dealt with.
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