Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Monday, November, 1st, 2021 

Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

Where to Watch:  NBA TV 

DraftKings:  Spread: Knicks -7 :  O/U: 212

BetMGM:  Spread: Knicks -7 :  O/U:  212

Knicks:  5-1 1st place (tied) Eastern Conference

Raptors: 4-3 Eastern Conference

For years the TV talking heads have been saying “the NBA is better when the Knicks are good”... and for years, decades even, the Knicks have been lousy.  During that time the NBA has been pretty great.  For entertainment purposes it is always argued that a strong Knicks team would bring more eyeballs to the sport and better coverage in the National Press.  Now we have the makings of a strong Knicks team… I will be waiting for the waterfall of greatness that the NBA is about to produce.

Tor has won an NBA title recently (2019).  Then they lost their single season superstar Kawhi Leonard to the Los Angeles Clippers through Free Agency.  All seemed lost until Pascal Siakam stepped up as the new star.  Chris Boucher also emerged as a solid piece found at random.  Fred VanVleet (who was the surprise story of that 2019 finals run) re-signed.  In 2020 the Raptors remained competitive…. They remained among the NBA odds to compete for a championship.  This last offseason, longtime Toronto Raptor PG Kyle Lowry moved on to the Miami Heat.  Now the team finds itself in a weird flux.  They could still be winners even though the bench is a bit thinner… they could also be tumbling back to the middle of the pack.

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RECENT FORM

The Raptors have lost to the Washington Wizards, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Chicago Bulls.  The Raptors have beaten the Boston Celtics, The Indiana Pacers twice, and the Orlando Magic.  4-3 is not bad to kick off the first 7 games of the regular season… the strength of schedule leaves a lot to be desired.  It could be argued that the Celtics are the only quality win of the 4 so far and it could be further argued that beating the Orlando Magic by a single point is indicative of a team that will struggle mightily against quality opponents.

The Knicks are on a three-game win streak.  The return to playoff basketball last season seems like no fluke.  This Knicks roster has a great mix of vets and young guys hitting shots from behind the arc and playing lights out ball.  The single contest they lost was against the Orlando Magic, it was the second of a scheduling blip that had them playing the Magic in back to back games.  The Knicks won game 1 and then lost focus and dropped game two.  They are winning and the 76ers, the Celtics, and the Bulls are among the notches on their belts.  This is a good Knicks team.  This is a winning Knicks team… and given health this is a deep playoff Knicks team.

The Raptors are 15th in offensive ranking with a score of 105.4.  They are 27th in effective field goal percentage 48.4%. The only thing keeping them in games is their #2 ranked offensive rebound rate of 34.5%... without the boards granting them more shot attempts, they would not have been able to win any games given the horrible field goal percentage.

The Knicks are 2nd in the league in offensive rating with a score of 114.5, they are 7th in assist-to turnover ratio 1.74, and 3rd in effective field goal percentage 55.7%. They are playing lights out.  The mix of shooters like PG Kemba Walker and SG Evan Fournier to go with pure athletes in SF RJ Barrett and C Mitchell Robinson all serve to complement All-Star PF Julius Randle.  The bench is thin and contingent on the health of Derrick Rose but so far everyone is playing well.

Our prediction for Monday, November, 1st is… Knicks 121 - Raptors 110

Knicks and a Big Over

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Injury Report:

Toronto: PF Pascal Siakam (shoulder) Out ** SF Yuta Watanabe (calf) Quest

New York: C Nerlens Noel (knee) Quest

Raptors: PG Fred VanVleet, SG Gary Trent Jr, SF OG Anunoby, PF Scottie Barnes

Knicks: PG Kemba Walker, SG Evan Fournier, SF RJ Barrett, PF Julius Randle, C Mitchell Robinson

Toronto

Points: Scottie Barnes 18.1 (ROY contender for sure)

Rebounds: Scottie Barnes 8.9

Assists: Fred VanVleet 2.6

Blocks: Chris Boucher 1

Knicks

Points: Julius Randle 20.8

Rebounds: Julius Randle 11.2

Assists: Julius Randle 6.5

Steals: Kemba Walker 1.7

Blocks: Julius Randle 1.2

Toronto:  Nick Nurse.  The proud winner of the 2019 championship has his work cut out for him this year.  The talent is less polished, the game plan needs to be tighter.  

Knicks: Tom Thibodeau.  Tom keeps on plugging away.  Low character guys get sick of him… high character guys will run through walls for him.  He may finally have the roster that fits his coaching style…. Julius Randle is a high character guy.