Marbury And Knicks Rout Raptors
Posted March 18, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Last week the Toronto Raptors were able to overcome a slow start at home and battle back to beat the Knicks. On Sunday in New York, Stephon Marbury made sure that wasn’t an option.
The Knicks guard scored 14 or his 21 points in a dominant third quarter and New York beat the Toronto Raptors 92-74 with relative ease.
Rookie Renaldo Balkman added 15 points and 12 rebounds playing for centre Eddy Curry, who battled foul trouble and was held to just five points.
Balkman – a draft day joke when he was selected by Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas – made all seven shots he took and was integral to a 27-5 run that blew the game open for New York in the third.
Thomas’ team shot 68 per cent in the penultimate quarter and held Toronto to 3-of-16 and a paltry 13 points.
Chris Bosh scored 21 points for the Raptors, who have lost two straight after a four-game winning streak. T.J. Ford added 14.
Meanwhile, t he Knicks got plenty of help from several key bench players, including Channing Frye who scored 20 points, and Nate Robinson who had 12.
Playing without Jamal Crawford, David Lee and Quentin Richardson, New York needed all the help it could get to snap a two-game losing streak that had knocked them down into a tie for ninth place in the Eastern Conference.
New York trailed by two early in the third before scoring 11 straight. Juan Dixon (pictured) hit a three-pointer for Toronto , but Marbury scored seven consecutive points after that, and in the blink of an eye the Knicks led 62-49.
Sunday marked the first time in three meetings this season that the Knicks wee able to handle Toronto . New York ‘s just 3-9 against Atlantic Division opponents, which could be costly in the event of any playoff tiebreaker scenarios.
Toronto now gets two days off before they play host to Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic Wednesday.
