Horrendous 3rd quarter sinks Raptors

• As third quarters go they don’t get much worse.

Up 11 after a half, the Raptors took their foot off the gas in a big way and 12 playing minutes later the game was over.

A 41-10 third quarter had the Knicks up 20 and seemingly on their way to an easy win.

But a fourth quarter lineup with Serge Ibaka playing alongside CJ Miles, Norm Powell, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet brought sanity back into the game.

That 20- point lead was down to six with 5: 40 gone in the final frame and the Raptors appeared on their way back to restoring normalcy to the NBA world.

But as is too often the case, coming back from a huge deficit takes its toll and while the Raptors got this one back to within reach finishing the deal never quite got all the way there in a 108100 loss.

On three different occasions in that fourth quarter the Raptors got the lead down to six points and on three different occasions the Knicks pulled away again.

Tim Hardaway Jr, the man the Knicks signed to an eyepopping four- year $ 71- million contract had a night worthy of that kind of money with 38 points, six assists and seven rebounds in the win.

When he wasn’t hitting threes, Hardaway was punishing the Raptors’ at the rim and when he wasn’t doing that he was beating them at the free thrown line.

With 10 seconds remaining in the game and the Knicks dribbling the game out, Hardaway stood at centre court imploring the MSG crowd to enjoy the moment which they willingly did.

This one is going to sting a while for the Raptors who were seemingly in control at the half on the strength of solid offensive games from both of its all starts in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

Between the two they had 29 points and seven assists at the half but in the second half had just 14 points between them as the scoring dried up for the Raptors.

The Raptors were j ust 1-for-16 in that third quarter, the lone field goal a CJ Miles three- pointer. For a team that was humming along offensively this one was truly humbling.

For the game the Raptors shot just 36 per cent from the field while giving up 46 per cent shooting to the Knicks.

The fact that this was a completely different team than that Knicks squad that bowed down l ast Friday at the Air Canada Centre should not have come as a surprise to anyone.

Head coach Dwane Casey and his staff were predicting a much different Knicks effort for the better part of the past two days.

Casey was well aware this team played much better on their home court and was telling anyone and everyone who would listen.

For a half he got what he wanted for his team. The second half, well, that was another story.