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Tim BontempsESPN
New York — As Jalen BrunsonToronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse clearly saw the trajectory of his potential game-winning 3-pointer in the air.
And as it arced toward the basket, Nurse had only one thing in mind.
“I just said, ‘Don’t come in,'” he later laughs.
“[I] I just hoped he would get away. ”
Luckily for the Raptors, Branson’s shot bounced behind the rim and went airborne, allowing Toronto to clinch a thrilling 123-121 overtime victory over the New York Knicks. Both regulation and overtime.
‘Take whatever you can get at this point,’ says Raptors guard Fred VanVleet Said.
A VanVleet error with 18 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter sparked chaotic regulation in the final minutes.rear Scotty Burns When Pascal Siakam The shot clock was off when they missed both jumpers that could have given Toronto the lead Julius Randle Grabbed a defensive rebound. But instead of playing defense and forcing the Knicks to take the final possession, VanVleet had an outstanding game with his 33 points, eight assists and just one turnover in 45 minutes. As a result, New York were awarded two free throws.
“I was just trying to make sure I got the last hit,” VanVleet said with a smile.
But after Branson split two free throws and VanVleet missed a 3 on the other side, Barnes grabbed an aggressive rebound, was fouled, and made both free throws to put Toronto back to one point. rice field.
Then, after Branson missed a potential go-ahead jumper and Barnes was fouled by Randle in the ensuing rebound chase, he made the first of two free throws but made the second. Missed the throw and gave the ball back to New York with a 6-second go.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau chose not to call timeouts RJ Barrett Growing up just outside of Toronto, he worked his way from coast to coast, throwing a huge dunk at Barnes with 0.6 seconds left to send the game into an extra session.
“I thought it was a terrible play. That’s how the game went,” Thibodeau said. “Back and forth. See, it was a quick turnaround for us. And we kept fighting the whole game.”
That battle of the Knicks continued all the way to when the game appeared to be in Toronto’s control when the Raptors held the ball with a six-point lead with less than a minute remaining.
What happened then?
In order:
Randall stole OG Anunoby He passed, drove the length of the court, and was fouled while making buckets to cut Toronto’s lead to four.
• Randle missed the ensuing free throw, and after two offensive rebounds for the Knicks, Barrett was fouled and hit both free throws, cutting the lead to two.
• After Toronto clocks down, Precious Achiuwa New York missed the 3-pointer that grabbed the rebound.
• And finally, with a fast break in which Thibodeau again chose not to call a timeout, Branson clearly saw the game-winning shot.
“I just [took] That’s what the defense gave me,” Branson said. I thought it was good. ”
But in the end it didn’t. The Knicks, who have played two days in a row after winning in Detroit on Sunday, fell 11-12 at Madison Square Garden this season. They became the only winning team and one of only six teams with a record under .500 at home. Home of the Houston Rockets.
Toronto, on the other hand, have won four of their last five games, just their sixth road win of the season. Only San Antonio (5 wins) and Houston (4 wins) have fewer wins. Eastern Conference Standings.
When asked if this would be an exciting win for the Raptors, Nurse replied, “I hope so.” There were a lot of them. Everywhere on the road, we didn’t go out to the right of breaks here and there and would have picked a lot of them.
“I think we definitely need to have fewer nights where we just don’t look like we’re moving, or running very well, or playing at pace. And it goes like this, like a month ago, you could beat anyone, you were playing some really good basketball with some really good teams in some really tough situations. So I hope we can come out and play with that kind of run on both ends. Really solid, organized, together, all that stuff.
