Carmelo Anthony scored 24 points, but a halftime tie turned into a blowout loss as the New York Knicks dropped their first preseason game 107-88 Friday evening at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. The game marked the third of six consecutive preseason road games for the Knicks; and several projected regulars, including Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby, Iman Shumpert, and J.R. Smith sat the game out.
Amar'e Stoudemire added 18 points on 8-11 shooting, but pulled down only five rebounds and picked up five fouls in 27 minutes of play. No other Knicks scored in double digits. Disappointing performances were the story of the game for New York. Point guard Raymond Felton turned in a performance that was reminiscent of his last season in Portland (4-11 shooting, six turnovers), while Jason Kidd also struggled, shooting 1-5 with only one assist in 23 minutes. Tyson Chandler pulled down only three rebounds with 2-8 mark from the charity stripe. 35-year old Argentine Pablo Prigioni was one of the few bright spots for New York, making 3-4 field goals and dishing out five assists in 19 minutes. The Knicks in general were plagued by sloppy play (17 turnovers) and poor shooting (5-27 from downtown).
Toronto had a balanced attack, with five players scoring in double-digits. Andrea Bargnani led the Raptors with 20 points. Toronto, boosted by a 46.2% shooting percentage from downtown, also saw double-digit scoring from Kyle Lowry (17), Amir Johnson (14), DeMar DeRozan (13), and John Lucas (12). Former Knick Landry Fields had six points, five rebounds, and five assists in 27 minutes of action.
The Knicks return to action on Saturday night in Boston for a 7:30 tip-off with the Celtics.