Deuce McBride hits nine threes in Knicks' 145-101 shellacking of Raptors

The Knicks got six first-quarter three-pointers from Deuce McBride and never looked back, dismissing a short-handed Raptors side in a dominant 145-101 win in Toronto on Wednesday night as Mitchell Robinson played for the first time after missing the last 50 games.

New York shot 57.9 percent from the floor and hit 22-of-44 from three-point land en route to scoring the team's most points in a regulation game since Nov. 1980.

The Knicks, now winners of three-straight and seven of their last eight, improved to 44-28 on the season to go 16 games over .500 for the first time in 11 seasons.

The win also pulled New York ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost in Charlotte, into the three-seed in the Eastern Conference via a tiebreaker. The Knicks are also just 2.5 games behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 2 spot.

Toronto fell to 23-50 with the loss.

Here are the takeaways...

- McBride, getting the chance to start for the fifth-straight game, knocked down his first three from beyond the arc but he wasn't done. McBride would knock down three more from deep in the quarter to tie a franchise record with Quentin Richardson and John Starks for most threes in a quarter (six). The guard finished the opening frame with 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting (6-for-8 from three) with three assists and a steal.

McBride would finish with a team-high 29 points on 10-for-17 shooting (9-for-14 from three) with three rebounds and seven assists in 39:35 of game time. He was a team-high plus-40 on the night.

He entered the night shooting 42.5 percent from beyond the arc since returning to the rotation on Dec. 30. It was McBride's fifth-straight game with at least 39 minutes, and during that span, he is averaging 21.6 points on 38-for-67 shooting (56.7 percent) and 23-for-47 from three (47.9 percent).

- The Knicks' hot shooting from deep wasn't limited to McBride pouring it in, Bojan Bogdanovic started 2-for-3 and Donte DiVincenzo started out 2-for-2.

Jalen Brunson, feeling left out of the fun early in the game, had a 7-0 run himself early in the second quarter to put the Knicks up 21 with 8:10 to play in the quarter. The All-Star guard had 11 of his 17 first-half points in the period.

New York shot just 3-for-13 from behind the arc in the second, but it didn't matter as they pulled down 10 first-half offensive boards and had 19 second-chance points to build an 80-59 halftime lead. The 80 points were the most they scored in a half this season.

The Knicks shot 30-for-49 from the floor (61.2 percent) and out-rebounded the Raptors 24 to 10 in the half.

- Overall, Toronto's porous defense was a real slump-buster for the Knicks, especially for Bogdanovic who was shooting 26.5 percent from three in his last 12 games. He had 18 off the bench connecting on 7-of-11 shots (4-of-5 from deep) in 16 minutes.

Brunson finished with 26 points (11-for-19 from the floor) with seven assists and four rebounds and was a plus-27 in 28 minutes. Josh Hart – who didn't get his first bucket until late in the third quarter – had seven points, 10 assists and six rebounds in 34 minutes. Precious Achiuwa added 19 off the bench – including two on a thunderous garbage time dunk – and 12 rebounds in his return to Toronto.

- With 5:08 left in the first quarter, Robinson entered to make his first appearance since Dec. 8 after having ankle surgery.

Robinson scored his first bucket in his return on an alley-oop and added two more on a ginger roll after a strong drive with his left hand to put the Knicks up 17.

He would open the second by flying in to swat away a wide-open layup for his first block of the night. Robinson re-entered with five to play in the third and was a nuisance Toronto couldn’t deal with, drawing a pair of loose ball fouls on the offensive end.

Through his first 21 games of the year, the center averaged 6.2 points, 10.3 rebounds (career high), 1.5 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 29.2 minutes. On his return Wednesday, Robinson finished with eight points (3-for-3 from the floor) with two rebounds, two blocks and three fouls. He was a plus-14 in 12 minutes on the floor.

Isaiah Hartenstein did well in the 44 games he played since Robinson’s injury, averaging 8.2 points and 9.9 rebounds in 28.5 minutes. And to his credit, Hartenstein continued to be aggressive and a force that the Raptors had trouble dealing with. He had nine points and two rebounds in the first quarter before Robinson entered.

Hartenstein finished with 15 points (5-for-6 shooting) and four rebounds in 19 minutes.

- Knicks were without Alec Burks for the second-straight night as he is dealing with a sprained right shoulder. The reserve guard joined Julius Randle and OG Anunoby on the sidelines for the Knicks.

Former Knicks RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley – who went to Toronto in the Anunoby trade – did not play for the Raptors, who were down four of their five regular starters. They would lose guard Ochai Agbaji for the game midway through the first after he landed hard on his hip trying to corral an errant alley-oop pass.

Anunoby received a tribute video from the Raptors early in the first quarter. Achiuwa was the recipient of a tribute video after the first quarter.

Highlights

What's Next...

The Knicks head off to San Antonio for a matchup with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on Friday for an 8 p.m. tip.