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Tuesday March 21st,
7:30PM EST
TV:MSG, NBALP
Radio:ESPN 1050
Online Radio: The Game Live
Atlantic rivals Knicks and Raptors meet in New York
Preview: Toronto (24-42) at New York (19-46) 7:30 pm EST
NEW YORK (Ticker) -- After facing two straight Eastern Conference powers, the New York Knicks will host the Toronto Raptors on Monday.
The Knicks rallied from a 16-point deficit to topple East-leading Detroit on Friday, but then had their two-game upswing halted Sunday by Miami, which owns the conference's second-best record.
Eddy Curry scored 18 points and Jamal Crawford added 14 off the bench for New York, which is two games ahead of Charlotte in the race to avoid the league's worst record.
The Raptors have won three of their last four games, following a 97-96 victory over Milwaukee in which they came back from 16 points down.
Chris Bosh, who collected 27 points and 10 rebounds, capped the rally with a pair of free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining. The star forward finished 9-of-9 at the line.
The Knicks have won nine of the last 10 regular-season meetings with Toronto here.
FINAL SCORE
Knicks - 109
Raptors - 114
boxscore
James’ 37 Lead Raptors Over Knicks
Recap: NEW YORK (Ticker) -- With more games like this, Mike James will be getting the same sort of paychecks as Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis.
James scored 37 points in a terrific all-around effort to lead the Toronto Raptors to their fourth win in five games, a 114-109 victory over the New York Knicks.
Chris Bosh scored 31 points for the Raptors, who made 11-of-27 shots from the arc as they continued one of their better stretches of the season. They had not won four of five since winning five in a row from December 28-January 6.
In the final year of a contract that pays him $3.4 million this season, James is having the best season of his career, averaging career highs of 18.8 points and 5.6 assists.
In falling one point shy of his career high, James made 12-of-22 shots, including 7-of-11 3-pointers. He added eight rebounds and five assists as he did most of his damage against Marbury, who makes $16.4 million, and Francis, who makes $13.7 million.
In the first half, James made four 3-pointers and scored 17 points to help Toronto to a 55-53 lead. In the third quarter, he was even better, draining three shots from the arc and scoring 17 points as the Raptors widened the advantage to 86-76 entering the final period.
Starting together in the backcourt, Marbury had 14 points and six assists and Francis added 10 and three.
A Long Island native, James was quiet in the final period, when Bosh took over, scoring 16 points to keep the Knicks at bay. The All-Star power forward made 12-of-21 shots.
Rookie Charlie Villanueva scored 15 points and Morris Peterson added 11 for Toronto, which shot 46 percent (39-of-84) as it won for just the second time in its last 11 visits to Madison Square Garden.
Rookie Channing Frye scored 19 points and Jamal Crawford added 16 off the bench for the Knicks (19-47), who have lost two in a row following a two-game winning streak.
In the fourth quarter, Frye had to be helped from the court after Raptors guard Andre Barrett tripped and went headfirst into Frye's left knee. X-rays were negative, but Frye has a sprained ligament
