Knicks sweep Raptors, 4-0 — and they can do it again in the playoffs
Darko Rajakovic allowed himself to break character, to laugh at the task at hand before reverting back to his stoic, hardcore persona as Toronto Raptors head coach. The try topic at hand? The Knicks : the team his Raptors had next on the schedule, a team they could very well see as a first-round opponent in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
And before Rajakovic addressed reporters ahead of tipoff at Madison Square Garden on Friday, he took one last look at New York’s depth chart, at the players wearing orange and blue he’d face in the second-to-last regular-season game before the playoffs begin on April 18. “They have one of the best rosters in the NBA,” Rajakovic said, cracking a smile. “They’ve been coached really well by coach [Mike] Brown.
They are very competitive. They have the personnel — they have a full roster. I was just counting.
They have four point guards and every position on the team has a lot of talent. ” Rajakovic’s smile was fleeting, as was the score at Madison Square Garden, as will be a potential first-round playoff series between the Knicks and Raptors. Because the Knicks swept their season series against Toronto, 4-0, in a resounding 112-95 victory over the Raptors on Friday, and the same — a shutout sweep — is on the table should the two teams meet in Round 1 of the postseason.
That could be why Rajakovic’s smile faded as quickly as the Raptors, who fell behind 14-3, took a 21-20 lead before the end of the first quarter, then found themselves down by as many as 17 when the Knicks flexed their scoring muscle in the middle two quarters. The Raptors were without a significant contingent of their starters and bench with former Knicks R. J.
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