There is no such thing as a rivalry between the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks, as the New York Knicks always beats the former. On Tuesday night, the Knicks used an excellent two-way effort late in the game to complete a season series sweep of the Raptors and win 111-95 on the road.
This is the Raptors' fourth loss of the season to the Knicks, and none of those losses have been particularly close. New York has outscored Toronto by a total of 81 points in those games this season, and it's become clear that the Raptors are not in the same league as the Knicks.
The Raptors' latest loss is yet another loss against a team with a top-10 record, and it's such a troubling sign and a foreboding sign that they won't be able to do much in the postseason. Nonetheless, head coach Darko Rajakovic believes his team can get it right, although he admitted they could not do so on Tuesday.
"When the time is right, it wasn't tonight," Rajakovic said in response to a question from Sportsnet's Michael Grange. When will they be able to get another win against a top-10 team?
Raptors are showing signs of being exhibitionists
The Raptors looked good early in the season, and it helped that they were dominant against the current number one team in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers. But their troubles against good teams remain and to become the best they have to beat the best. And Toronto has failed on this front.
The good news is that the Raptors are still fifth in the Eastern Conference and if the season ended today, they would face the Cavs in the first round of the playoffs – a team they have dispatched of three times already this season.
