Game day: New York Knicks at Raptors

SCOTIABANK ARENA TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m. TV: TSN RADIO: Sportsnet 590 The FAN

PROBABLE STARTERS

New York: Frank Ntilikina, RJ Barrett, Marcus Morris, Julius Randle, Taj Gibson. Toronto: Fred VanVleet, Norm Powell, OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol.

NEED TO KNOW

The homecoming: RJ Barrett is considered questionable for this game because of an illness. He was forced to miss Sunday’s matchup against Brooklyn and his status for this one won’t be known until closer to game time. The third overall pick in the 2019 draft grew up in Mississauga and is the son of Rowan Barrett, who has long been a part of Canada Basketball as a player and executive. The younger Barrett is off to a strong start this year with 15.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

Another man down: Raptors shooting guard Matt Thomas is expected to miss the next four weeks because of a fractured middle finger on his left hand. The injury occurred during Saturday’s victory over the Hawks. He joins Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, Patrick McCaw,

Stanley Johnson and Dewan Hernandez on the sidelines.

Home-court advantage: Toronto has tied a franchise record by opening the season with a perfect 7-0 record at home. The Raptors are one of four teams in the NBA without a loss at home this season. The others are Boston (6-0), Miami (7-0) and Philadelphia (7-0). Toronto hasn’t lost to an Atlantic Division opponent at home during the regular season since Nov. 10, 2015, going 32-0 over that stretch.

UP NEXT

Friday at Orlando, 7 p.m. Gregor Chisholm