Knicks Nipped North of the Border 102-96

David Lee was already shining playing with the New York Knicks’ bigger lineup, but the absence of Toronto’s best frontcourt player Chris Bosh just made the Knicks All-Star look even more impressive.  

As Bosh sat in a local hospital with a stomach virus, Lee was dominating the low post in Friday night’s 102-96 loss to the Raptors at Air Canada Centre. The 6-foot-9 center racked up 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting and eight rebounds to anchor a starting lineup that featured five players 6-6 or taller for the second straight game.  

Lee recorded his 20th double-double in 23 games two nights after finishing two assists shy of his first triple-double in a win over the Detroit Pistons at home on Wednesday. Labeled “The Human Double-Double” by Shaquille O’Neal earlier this year, Lee reached his 40th double-double of the season by the eight-minute mark of the third quarter.  

The Knicks’ tall lineup caused mismatches for Toronto throughout the night, especially when Wilson Chandler took Bill Walker’s spot to start the second half, making the shortest Knicks player on the court 6-8. The Knicks took a 63-62 advantage with 6:56 in the third quarter, which would be their last lead even though they kept it close for the remainder of the game.  

When asked about taking advantage of the mismatches, Danilo Gallinari said: “I think we did pretty good things, but we could have done better for sure.”  

Chandler was not in the starting lineup for the first time this season after missing the previous two games to attend his grandfather’s funeral, but he still managed to finish with 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field. Gallinari chipped in 13 points, including five in a row late in the fourth quarter to cut a nine-point deficit to two.  

“At the end we gave ourselves a chance to win, but they hit the big shot,” said Tracy McGrady, who contributed 13 points, six rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes.  

The 6-8 McGrady ran the point for the second consecutive game and excelled with the ball in his hands. Making a return to the city where he began his career, McGrady showed that he can still get up and down the court and cause problems for the opposition on both ends of the floor.  

“Since we don’t really have a true center and we’re not huge at all positions, going with five ‘medium-sized guys’ we’ll call it, is going to help us on the boards,” Lee said before the game.  “It’s going to help us with pick-and-rolls. We can switch a lot of pick-and-rolls. It’s going to keep teams from getting in the lane and getting easy buckets.”  

With Bosh out, Sonny Weems led the Raptors with 20 points and nine boards off the bench. Jose Calderon scored 16.