Category: Sports News

The Toronto Raptors may have been facing the New York Knicks’ C-Team, but that wasn’t why fans packed the Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

New York could’ve grabbed randoms off NBA Twitter and the electricity in the building would’ve remained.

Here are a few thoughts and quotes to drop in your group chat after the Raptors defeated the Knicks 148-98.

He return

“I tried to get those guys as much as possible on the court together so they can figure out the chemistry and spacing” – Darko Rajakovic.

It’s been 2,682 days (seven years, four months, and three days) since Kawhi Leonard last donned a Raptors uniform in front of the Toronto faithful. That was when Leonard authored a mesmerizing one-man show against the Warriors before Head Coach Nick Nurse called (a now untimely) timeout.

Leonard seemed intent on knocking down a triple to begin his second stint in Toronto, with the superstar’s first three shots coming from beyond the arc. He eventually hit a three-pointer from the left wing, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.

He followed that by posting up Jose Alvarado on the left baseline, before drilling a turnaround fadeaway. Leonard’s first points as a 35-year-old Raptor technically came at the free-throw line. That’s basically comfort food offence for a team that has previously struggled when things slow down in the playoffs or opposing defences resort to zone.

“I wanted to get after it and get tired,” said Leonard. “I still want to get in better shape but it was fun to play.”

When Leonard returned in the second quarter, he transported us back to 2019 with a right-corner triple that required a friendly bounce courtesy of his favourite rim in the league.

Leonard was everything we remembered him to be. He finished with 21 points and five rebounds on 50 per cent shooting. He also added two steals. This was all accomplished in 17 minutes of play. Have the rest of the pre-season off big guy.

Chalk it up to rookie nerves

“I have huge trust in Allen and his three-point shooting.” – Darko Rajakovic

After missing the first two pre-season games in Quebec City and Vancouver, Allen Graves finally made his debut. If Leonard hadn’t dressed, Graves would have been the apple of everyone’s eye. It’s probably best that wasn’t the case, at least early on, as it seemed Graves had understandable “first-game-as-a-pro” jitters.

In less than four minutes, Graves picked up three fouls, with the third coming after he bowled over Drew Eubanks while trying to grab a defensive rebound.

For the most part, Graves was parked in a corner on offence. He missed his first three attempts from deep but finally knocked down his first bucket as a professional in the second quarter. It should be noted that he was wide open on these attempts, which should be a common occurrence playing alongside Leonard and as opponents dare him to shoot.

I loved how active he was on the court. There was a play where he chased down his own miss and poked the ball loose, subsequently resulting in Ja’Kobe Walter getting two points.

The trio needs a nickname

“Scottie and CMB, they’re very talented…they make things easy.” – Kawhi Leonard

Speaking of Graves, fans were finally treated to the beautiful and blinding chaos that comes with the rookie playing next to Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles. The trio made their debut in the back end of the first quarter. They were flying.

Flanked by Walter and Jamal Shead, the group forced a shot-clock violation, a handful of turnovers and deflections, a dead-ball and the Knicks’ bench into never-ending uncertainty.

Shortly after, Head Coach Rajakovic tried a different combination with Immanuel Quickley and Leonard. It’ll be fun to see what kind of lineups the coaching staff deploys with Toronto’s newest set of triplets.

That’s an interesting development

“When Kawhi is on the floor, he attracts so much gravity…they really complement each other well.” – Darko Rajakovic

It seems that even though Brandon Ingram may be in Los Angeles, his signature baseline fadeaway remained behind in Toronto, specifically in the hands of Barnes. The All-Star normally resembles a running back with the ball in his hands, but he was silky-smooth on the baseline and knocked down numerous jumpers with a high degree of difficulty. Ingram would have been proud.

As for Murray-Boyles, he finished a perfect two-of-two from distance. He averaged less than one three-point attempt a game in his rookie year, while shooting 34 per cent. If he can average around two three-point shots while maintaining a similar average, that would be incredible. Toronto shot 35.4 per cent from three last season.

“Collin worked so hard over the course of the summer on his shooting,” said Rajakovic. “We need more guys that can be willing to take shots.”

Eyes on Darko

“At the end of our conversation, he always tells me to go play basketball.” Kawhi Leonard on Darko

Pre-season reps are valuable, even for the coaches. With 1.2 seconds left in the first half, the Raptors forced a turnover, inspiring Rajakovic to call a timeout. The exhibition was already a blowout at that point, but Rajakovic wasn’t going to let a learning opportunity slip by.

The Raptors drew up a play that involved Leonard screening for CMB on the left elbow, before CMB pivoted into a screen for Leonard. This triggered the inbound, which Leonard caught on a ‘76ers bounce cut’ (what I’m tentatively calling the route). Before Leonard could add to his stat line, he was fouled.

A big part of the 2019 championship run was Nurse’s development. He started the season as an unknown variable type of coach, but later evolved into a mad scientist. Rajakovic’s continued progression will also play a pivotal role in determining the ceiling of the 2026-27 Raptors.

A New York state of mind

“We have good guys that are about the right stuff, are all in, and have embraced our culture.” – Mike Brown

Before the game, Knicks Head Coach Mike Brown was asked how the team plans to stay locked in despite potential distractions (Karl-Anthony Towns). With zero hesitation, Brown highlighted an organization-wide commitment to chasing one very obvious goal, and it’s more than just a verbal promise.

“We have our standard written down that everybody signed, similar to a contract,” said Brown. “This way, it allows all of us, starting from the top down, to hold each other accountable.”

The Knicks fall to 0-4 in pre-season play, once again proving that these are practice reps on public display.

LAS VEGAS — The Lakers marquee free agency acquisition was available to make his long-awaited preseason debut against the Warriors Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Walker Kessler was upgraded to active for Tuesday’s matchup after missing the Lakers’ first three games of the preseason.

He injured his left pinky finger (non-shooting hand) during the first week of training camp.

The 7-foot-2 center progressed to participating during the live action portion of Sunday’s practice after doing everything else but live drills during Saturday’s session. 

Kessler has had his left pinky wrapped the last couple of weeks after jamming it on a backboard during practice. 

 “Just taking precautionary stuff, especially since it’s preseason,” he said earlier in the week. “But it feels good.”

While Kessler made his debut, superstar guard Luka Doncic was held out of Tuesday’s game for rest.

Coach JJ Redick made it clear Doncic wasn’t injured after playing in two of the first three preseason games. 

The Lakers’ last exhibition will come against the Nuggets on Friday in Los Angeles. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers got blown out in their final preseason game 132-116 to the Orlando Magic.

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents that player performing to our expectations for them.

James Harden

13 points, 2 assists, 0 rebounds

The Cavs struggled to get into any kind of scoring rhythm. The bigs weren’t involved as much as you’d like, and the offense overall wasn’t able to generate many clean looks for outside shooters. Part of that blame falls on the starting point guard.

In addition to that, Harden had a tough time finding his own shot. He went just 6-for-14 from the field in an overall forgettable game.

Grade: D-

Donovan Mitchell

15 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists

Mitchell made a concerted effort to get others involved. That resulted in eight assists in under 25 minutes to go along with 15 points. This was a solid night from someone who looks ready for regular season basketball to start.

Grade: B

Evan Mobley

14 points, 5 rebounds, 0 assists

Mobley missed his first five shots before slowly turning it around as he put up seven points in both the second and third quarters.

This preseason has been rough for Mobley offensively. He’s struggled to get to his spots on the floor and hasn’t been very efficient when he gets there. This 6-for-14 performance is on the heels of going 3-for-10 the game before.

Grade: D

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Peyton Watson

10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

Watson struggled to find the range from deep as he went 1-for-5 beyond the arc. The three-point volume in 24 minutes is what you want to see, even though the efficiency wasn’t there.

The energy Watson plays with remains encouraging. He was an active defender as he racked up two blocks and a steal.

Grade: B

Jarrett Allen

9 points, 6 rebounds, 0 assists

Allen was an afterthought on offense and wasn’t able to do enough on the other end to cover up for the poor point-of-attack defense elsewhere.

Grade: D

Jaylon Tyson

12 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist

Tyson’s energy is infectious. He and Watson were two of the regulars who played with the appropriate amount of force.

Grade: B

Meleek Thomas

16 points, 0 assists, 3 rebounds

There are legitimate questions about whether Thomas is ready to fit into an off-ball role. There are fewer questions about how he looks when you put the ball in his hands.

Thomas played five minutes in the first three quarters with the regular rotation and struggled to make an impact. He attempted just one shot and never really felt a part of the offense. That changed in the fourth quarter when the Cavs pulled their regulars and put the ball in his hands.

Thomas scored 14 of his 16 points in the final frame. He relentlessly got where he wanted on the court, and scored efficiently when he got there, as he ended the night going 6-for-9 from the field.

You don’t want to make too much of garbage time in a preseason blowout, but this was another encouraging performance from Thomas.

Grade: A-

Mario Hezonja

12 points, 2 assists, 6 rebounds

This was a solid showing for Hezonja. He once again held up well against a physical Orlando team as he did a little bit of everything.

These last two games have been steps in the right direction for Hezonja after a rough debut against the Boston Celtics.

Grade: B

Craig Porter Jr.

0 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

Porter has a shot at earning a spot in the rotation, but he hasn’t done enough to definitively grab that role. He once again struggled to make an impact off-ball, and didn’t attempt a shot in 17 and a half minutes. Porter’s defense has been fine, and it’s good to have another play initiator in the offense, but guards need to be threats to score when they’re on the court.

Grade: D+

Tyrese Proctor

4 points, 0 rebounds, 2 assists

Proctor got some run with the regulars, but didn’t necessarily make the most of it. He didn’t make much of an impact when he was with the other rotation players, which isn’t ideal for someone the team is hoping will take a leap in his second season. It wasn’t until he shared the court with some of the reserves that you started to feel his impact.

Grade: C–

Having played last night at home, coach Mike Brown rested his starters tonight in Toronto. His opening lineup included Jose Alvarado, Miles McBride, Bruce Brown, Mohamed Diawara, and James Wiseman. Across the aisle, Kawhi Leonard made his preseason debut as the team returned to Scotiabank Arena following a cross-country tour of showcase scrimmages. The Knicks lost to the Timberwolves yesterday, and they dropped another tonight, 148-98. No, Virginia, these games don’t count.

The starters weren’t required to attend, but Mikal Bridges did. Because he’s a savage!

Both teams came out bricking, but the home team fixed their problems sooner, jumping out to a 13-4 lead that chased New York into a timeout. OAKAAKUYOAK RJ Barrett collected an early eight points in seven minutes to lead his team. For our heroes, James Wiseman blanked across the board in the first quarter, with two turnovers that cancelled a pair of rebounds. He played better (offensively, at least) in the second half, finishing the night with 18 points and 10 boards to lead the team.

Midway through the frame, Wiseman sat for Drew Eubanks, who didn’t wow us either, but at least got on the scoreboard. Pacome Dadiet checked in, too, and promptly suffered at the hands of Scottie Barnes—and then Barrett. Not great. (He also played better after intermission.) Seeing Diawara make his first three-pointer of the preseason made us happy, but ‘twas a mere sip while we thirsted for decent basketball. The two Tylers (Kolek, Nickel) checked in with four minutes left in the quarter, and they did little to help. By the break, Barnes had shot 6-of-7 for 15 points, and the score stood at 42-22. The gulf felt much wider than that.

Twice in the first quarter, Mike Brown and Alvarado had extended conversations. They seemed to not be on the same page. To be fair, few Knicks were on the right page tonight.

Toronto opened the second quarter with a 7–0 run, on a bucket from Quickley, a three from Kawhi Leonard, and a drive by Barrett. Tyler Nickel answered with a layup and a three, and Tony Bradley added two baskets inside, but the Knicks played defense like touch football, allowing the Dinos to continue to pour it on. After Bruce Brown’s cutting layup made it 56–33 with 7:16 left, the Raptors went on a 20–2 run. It’s never fun to be on the wrong side of that.

Ja’Kobe Walter scored all eight of his quarter’s points during that stretch, including a three after stripping Wiseman. Jamal Shead dished four dimes on that run, while Leonard added a free throw and a turnaround three. When Collin Murray-Boyles made a putback dunk, Toronto’s advantage reached 76–35.

Leonard had the biggest scoring impact with 11 points in the quarter and 21 in the half. Wiseman gave the Knicks a brief lift late, finishing an Alvarado-assisted dunk and converting a hook shot. Between those baskets, Miles McBride blocked Leonard’s layup (good!) but turned over the rock twice (less good). Alvarado missed two free throws (even less good). Kevin McCullar Jr., Ochai Agbaji and Pacôme Dadiet went scoreless in the period. When the half finally ended, the score was 85–47.

Nickel does have a pretty shot, no?

Through the half, the Knicks’ understudies turned over the ball 12 times compared to Toronto’s two, and were outrebounded 29-17. They’d shot a paltry 22% from deep versus the Raptors’ 40%. McBride and Nickel had eight points apiece for the guests, with no one yet in double digits.

After intermission, the abuse continued with the lead reaching 44 points. New York finally assembled some offense inside: Alvarado hit a pullup, then assisted on buckets by Eubanks and Dadiet. The latter also blocked a Barrett layup, and Eubanks rejected Quickley, but the losses outnumbered the gains. McBride went scoreless during that stretch, missing two threes and having a dunk blocked by Barnes.

Wiseman made the biggest difference for New York after entering at 6:55, scoring nine points on hooks, an alley-oop from Brown, and a putback hook. Jaden Akins (who really does resemble Quinten Grimes from a distance, if you squint) supplied three assists and turned a steal into a layup, while Kolek added a three and two freebies. Together, they powered the Knicks on a 20–9 run that trimmed the score to 109-76. Dadiet contributed seven points, but his fourth foul and Mohamed Diawara’s fifth underscored a general defensive ineptitude. Nickel kept letting shots fly, making just 1-of-9 on the night. After three quarters, the score remained lopsided, 116-70.

In the fourth frame, the differential topped out at 53. New York’s perimeter shooting fell to 17% for the game, a figure that passed the eye test. Your weary blogger fell asleep for a few minutes, but the clang of bricks woke him. Our guys sure left some dents in those Canadian rims. Against Toronto’s third-stringers, Diawara hit another triple (totaled 13 points overall), and Wiseman grabbed five boards. Those were encouraging signs. Less encouraging: Kolek missed four threes down the stretch, McCullar missed two, and Ochai Agbaji and Tony Bradley went scoreless. When it finally was time to go to bed, there was a special satisfaction in turning the TV off on this game.

Up Next

Back to MSG on Thursday to see the Dinos again. Last game of the preseason, too. Safe travels, Knickerbockers.

There are still far more questions than answers surrounding Kristaps Porziņģis’ health and wellness. But, more than two weeks after Golden State Warriors kicked off training camp, we finally have a critical positive update: Porziņģis is in the house.

Recently inked to a two-year, $40 million extension, Porziņģis — whom the Dubs acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in February — did not join Golden State on their opening-week jaunt to Hawaii, with the team announcing at the eleventh hour that the All-Star was out indefinitely. There were no updates when the team returned home from the island either and that certainly led to rumors swirling. No one seems aware as to whether Porziņģis has an injury or an ailment or, if some of the more eyebrow-raising rumors are to be given any credence, something that the team is covering up.

On Monday we got the closest thing possible to an update, with coach Steve Kerr saying he expected Porziņģis to be at the facility on Tuesday. Kerr risked setting himself up for a disastrous own goal if Porziņģis were not present on Tuesday, but thankfully that didn’t happen. Per multiple reports, the 31-year old from Latvia arrived at the Chase Center (the Warriors’ facilities are at their home arena) on Tuesday, where he spent time with head athletic trainer Rick Celebrini and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. While that’s a critical first step, there’s still no word on when Porziņģis might be back on the floor.

It’s a little funny — and hopefully nothing more than that — that Porziņģis appeared at the arena when the team, conveniently, was not there. The Dubs are currently in Sin City, as they have a Tuesday night game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which may end up being the home of the next expansion NBA team.

While it’s certainly encouraging that we have a Porziņģis update — however mild and vague — it remains odd, concerning, and fairly unprecedented that this is, it seems, his first time back with the team. Usually players, whether sick or injured, spend a large amount of time at the facilities, working with the trainers and coaches. That Porziņģis has been, for lack of a better word, missing, raises a few eyebrows.

Then again, it’s also clear that the Warriors are being a little secretive here, and who knows how much communication is going on between the team and the player that we’re simply not privy to (per ESPN’s Anthony Slater, there has been “consistent contact” between the two sides).

Either way, Porziņģis is back … sort of. And while we don’t know a timeline, it certainly seems fair to assume he won’t be playing when the Dubs open the season in eight days.

On the second night of a preseason back-to-back, the Knicks lost their fourth-straight game, falling 148-98 to the Toronto Raptors.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Head coach Mike Brown relied solely on his bench in Tuesday's contest, giving the star quintet of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Karl Anthony-Towns a rest after Monday's 122-104 loss to the Timberwolves. Miles McBride, Bruce Brown, Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and James Wiseman took their places. 

Each member of the Knicks -- with the exception of Tony Bradley, who left the court early in the fourth seemingly nursing a hamstring -- played at least 10 minutes. 

Toronto used its starters, re-debuting Raptors legend Kawhi Leonard and giving former Knicks RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley significant minutes against their former team.

-- In keeping with the theme of this year's preseason campaign, the Knicks crew continued to struggle on the offensive end, shooting 40 percent from the field, 17 percent from three-point range (their worst of the preseason), and 70 percent from the free throw line. 

-- Wiseman led the way for New York, making a strong case for his value as a backup center. The 25-year-old scored 18 points, shot a perfect 100 percent from the free throw line and 87.5 percent from field goal range, while adding 10 rebounds and three turnovers in 23 minutes of play.

Also battling for the final center spot, Drew Eubanks netted eight points (3-for-5 from the field, 2-for-4 in free throws), andBradleytallied four (2-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 in free throws). 

-- Diawara walked away with 13 points in 28 minutes played. The 21-year-old went 50 percent in field goals (5-for-10) and 43 percent from beyond the arc (3-for-7).

-- Tyler Nickel led the Knicks in steals with two, contributing 11 points to the effort. His 80 percent from the free throw line tied with McBride (eight points) for second-best on the team Tuesday night.

-- In his first game in Raptors threads since leading the team to their first-ever NBA Title in June 2019,Leonarddrove the Toronto effort, netting a team-leading 21 points and two steals. He also collected five rebounds (tied with Jakob Poeltl for third-most on the team) and went 5-for-7 from the free throw line.

-- BarrettandQuickley -- both of whom New York sent to Toronto in exchange for Anunoby in December 2023 -- each played over 21 minutes. Barrett tallied 17 (6-of-12 from the field, 4-for-5 in free throws), and Quickley scored eight with a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

Game MVP: Kawhi Leonard

Despite only playing the first half, the 35-year-old small forward led all players in points (21).

What's next

New York will conclude the preseason with another game against the Raptors, this time on home court at MSG, Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are fortunate that a performance like this doesn’t count in the record book. This was a bad showing in a game the regulars played a full three quarters.

The Cavs were terrible defensively. They were consistently beaten on dribble drives and backdoor cuts. And when they stepped up to stop offensive players driving to the hoop, they left themselves vulnerable to three-point looks. You couple that with poor offensive execution, and you get a runaway 132-116 loss to the Orlando Magic in your final preseason outing.

Cleveland’s regulars were led in scoring by Donovan Mitchell, who put up 14 points on 7-of-15 shooting with eight helpers. Aside from Mitchell, few of the rotation players could establish much of an offensive flow.

James Harden scored 13 points, but he went an inefficient 3-of-12 from the field to get those. Evan Mobley struggled to get into a rhythm, going 6-for-14 from the field for 14 points and five rebounds.

The Magic had strong outings from all of their starters. Paolo Banchero led the way with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds. Franz Wagner added 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with eight assists.

There weren’t many positives to take away from this game for the Cavs, but the play of Meleek Thomas was one of them. He received just five minutes of run in the first three quarters with the regulars, but more than made up for lost time in the fourth quarter. He put up 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the final frame alone. Overall, he led the Cavs with 16 points.

How much you want to take away from garbage time in a preseason game is up to you. What we can confidently say at this point is that Thomas has been comfortable scoring in nearly every environment you put him in when he can be the primary ball handler.

This was a poor showing from the Cavs, but not one that likely means much in the grand scheme of things.

The Cavs don’t take the court again until Thursday, October 22, when they open up their season on the road against LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers.