TORONTO – The first thing Masai Ujiri did as general manager of the Toronto Raptors was trade Andrea Bargnani to the New York Knicks.
It still might be the best thing he’s ever done. And it might get better yet.
But the Raptors’ 111-109 loss to the visiting Knicks on Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre didn’t help matters. A badly blown call in the final moments made it worse.
It was a four-point game, as they say in hockey. Not only were the Raptors hoping to stop a two-game losing streak and instead fell to 5-3 on the season, just as significant, every Knicks win or loss could impact the Raptors’ fortunes in the future.
So it’s perfect that the game may have been decided on an egregious officiating error.
Conspiracy theorists could have a field day. It doesn’t take much for Raptors fans to believe the NBA stacks the deck against them. Now they have something to help prove their case.
The Raptors were down five with 1:41 left before a Jonas Valanciunas layup and a pair of James Johnson free throws with 26 seconds left cut their lead to 106-105.
Then the drama. Officials clearly missed the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony stepping out of bounds in front of the Raptors bench before he passed the ball to Lance Thomas, who was fouled with 17.2 seconds left and knocked down two free throws to give the Knicks a 108-105 lead to seemingly ice the game.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey went apoplectic. There was nothing the officials could do because they called a foul on the play. Rules around reviewing calls don’t include reviewing missed calls.
All they could do afterwards was admit their mistake: “When we came in we reviewed the play,” said crew chief Ed Malloy to a pool reporter. “We did see Anthony step out of bounds and should have awarded the ball to Toronto.”
The Raptors still had their chances. DeMar DeRozan hit one free throw and missed the next but the ball went out of bounds off the Knicks, but a potentially game-tying layup by DeRozan on the next play rolled out.
With the win the Knicks improved to 4-4 on the year. Anthony led the Knicks with 25 points, while DeRozan led the Raptors with 29, but that wasn’t enough.
“There were a lot of things all night that we were definitely frustrated about,” said DeRozan. “We still had a chance to pull it out. I missed a free throw and even though I missed we got the ball back and missed I layup. It’s a combination of things.”
Every Knick win is significant because the last remaining asset from the deal struck in the summer of 2013 is an unprotected first-round draft pick that the Raptors will get in 2016.
It belongs to the Knicks but the Denver Nuggets have the right to swap their pick with the Knicks if the Knicks’ pick is more valuable. The Nuggets got the right as part of the Anthony deal struck by Ujiri when he was in Denver.
Basketball is a small world.
The pick is otherwise unprotected and potentially of untold value. At the time it didn’t seem like all that big a sacrifice for the Knicks. They were coming off a 54-win season in 2012-13, which is why they were interested in Bargnani in the first place. Meanwhile Denver was coming off a 57-win season. The lottery seemed distant.
After Tuesday night imagine the ripple effect if whatever pick the Raptors get is decided by one Knicks win?
There was hope in New York Bargnani would regain his earlier form with a change of scenery and that he could take pressure off Knicks star Anthony. That they were both represented by Leon Rose of the powerful Creative Artists Agency and Rose had a pipeline to notoriously impatient Knicks owner James Dolan helped also. It’s widely believed that then Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald didn’t want to do the deal – or at least include the pick – but that the word was Dolan wanted it done and Ujiri pushed for additional assets.
The Raptors took on some dead money in the form of Marcus Camby’s contract and that belonging to Quentin Richardson. Neither ever played for the Raptors. Toronto received Steve Novak, two second round picks and the 2016 first, which seemed a long way away at the time.
But things change incredibly quickly in the NBA and the Raptors may be sitting on a pot-of-gold. Last June the Nuggets and the Knicks drafted fourth and seventh overall, respectively. There doesn’t seem to be much question that the Nuggets will be headed for another lottery appearance. Bargnani, meanwhile, flamed out with the Knicks and is playing out the string with the woeful Brooklyn Nets.
It was a terrible trade for the Knicks. The question is how bad it will be.
The bigger question is how much the Knicks have improved from the 17-win team a year ago. The backstory made Tuesday night’s visit to Toronto all the more intriguing.
Sure the Raptors were trying to stem a two-game losing streak; sure they were trying to do it with DeMarre Carroll out with a budding case of plantar fasciitis and with Terrence Ross out with a sprained ligament on his left thumb that will keep him out of action for at least two weeks. He says he hit another player in a workout on Monday.
So the game had all kinds of significance for the present, but the Raptors really stand to gain if they can help keep the Knicks down.
The problem with being a mid-pack playoff team like the Raptors have been recently is that it’s tough to get the kinds of talent injections through the draft that really help you improve.
A bad season by the Knicks and the Nuggets could be huge.
Unfortunately in the early going the Raptors were playing like a short-handed team missing two rotation players.
The Raptors trailed the Knicks by seven after the first quarter, fought back to tie the score with 1:46 left in the half before Anthony got on a roll. Maybe a healthy Carroll makes a difference defending Anthony, maybe not. When Anthony gets going defenders are irrelevant. He scored eight points in less than two minutes and the Knicks led 60-52 at the half.
While it was Anthony driving much of the play, much of the Knicks prospects for short and long-term success depend on the development of Latvian rookie Kristaps Porzingis, already being dubbed the ‘anti-Bargnani’ because – while they share a European heritage and are seven-footers with inside-outside skills – Porzingis has already won over teammates and coaches with a toughness and enthusiasm that Bargnani showed only in spurts.
“Different. He can do more things at the same age that Andrea,” said former Raptors point guard and current Knicks floor leader Jose Calderon, who played with the Raptors’ former No. 1 pick for seven seasons. “… [Porzingis] can do a lot more, more post-ups. Just different.
“But [Porzingis] has a great mentality for a young guy,” says Calderon. “He really loves to play basketball and wants to work everyday and listens and asks advice. When you have that you have everything to be successful in this league. He plays with passion. He plays hard and he wants to help his team win.”
Or, in the rookie’s own words: “I want to be aggressive, I want to attack, I want to get fouled,” he says. “… Get rebounds, get blocks, stuff that just working on the court you can get even if you’re not making shots.”
See? The anti-Bargnani.
He wasn’t a particularly significant factor on Tuesday. He missed his first five shots and finished with eight points, although he did grab six rebounds in 20 minutes.
Instead it was other members of the Knicks improved bench, Lance Thomas and Langston Galloway, who gave the Raptors fits as they combined for 32 points.
Meanwhile the Raptors bench continued to struggle. James Johnson, starting in place of Carroll, scored just seven points, though his defence on Anthony was admirable. The Raptors bench combined for just 23 points.
The Raptors now head to Philadelphia where they have a good chance to right their ship, injuries or not. But they squandered a chance to hold the Knicks down and improve their own fortunes next June.
That the officials contributed so significantly to the Knicks win adds one more layer to a drama years in the making.