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New York Knicks @ Toronto Raptors

Game Time: 7:30 pm ET

DraftKings Lines

NYK -6 (-245), TOR +6 (+200)
Game Total 231.5

Key Storylines

NBA Cup Knicks: If this was any team other than a Thibs team, you might think they would take it easy on Monday night before their In-Season Tournament Quarterfinal on Wednesday vs. the Hawks. However, you can expect the typical unabashed exorbitant minutes because Thibs doesn’t have a first or a second gear when it comes to players’ minutes, it’s always full speed ahead.

The big notes here are Karl-Anthony Towns (right knee patellar tendonopathy) and Cam Payne (left elbow effusion) both being listed as questionable at the time of writing. Towns was sidelined in the last game on Saturday, while Payne has missed the last two games.

You should wait for news on Payne before making any move to pick him up.

Just a note: With KAT absent on Saturday, Jericho Sims started but only played six minutes because frankly, he is the worst option at the position on the team. Rookie center Ariel Hukporti played 15 minutes and the recently-returned Precious Achiuwa earned 28 minutes off the bench. Achiuwa tallied six points, 10 boards, four assists, one steal and one block.

The only other player in the rotation besides the other usual starters and Miles McBride was the rookie PG Tyler Kolek, however, he only played four minutes so you can’t do anything with that for fantasy and he likely won’t even get those spare minutes if Payne gets cleared.

Welcome back Kelly: Kelly Olynyk made his season debut on Saturday after a back strain had kept him sidelined. In his 14 minutes, he was as good as ever with 13 points, four rebounds, one assist and two steals (he also hit every FG and FT attempt). Olynyk will likely be a 14-team player long-term as he squeezes out more minutes when he gets healthier, but it was a nice start to his campaign.

Gradey Dick also showed signs of life again with 27 points and five 3-pointers, though it wasn’t on good FG%. I still think DIck can co-exist with  the main Raptors cast as his off-ball movement (both designed and not designed) to get open threes, midrange jumpers and savvy cuts to the basket (he makes use of his shooting gravity) are too complementary not to succeed in my eyes. I guess the main issue there is the lineup’s defense and whether Dick gets the adequate shots, but he knows how to get open.

I will make some minute notes here from the last game with the team back to near full health. It’s Bruce Brown still out forever due to reconditioning, but he did have right knee surgery so I suppose he needs time, but also Immanuel Quickley remains out and we have not had a clear update on his status since he went down with his elbow injury.

Last game, we saw Jonathan Mogbo with 21 minutes, Ja’Kobe Walter with 21 minutes, Davion Mitchell with 26 (empty) minutes, Ochai Agbaji (a starter) with 20 minutes and Jamison Battle with four minutes. Then it was your usual starting group filling the rest of the time.

Do you think someone is missing? Chris Boucher fell out of the rotation entirely despite some good play this season. I imagine it’s because of Olynyk’s return, but the Raptors could always find a 10-to-15 for him somewhere though it could be at the cost of a Mogbo (I don’t think that is likely), or perhaps one of the wings for some bigger lineups.

Stream of the Game

Miles McBride is the name of choice for the 2-in-3 set as the Knicks play on Monday and Wednesday (an NBA Cup Quarterfinal). He gets points, 3s and sometimes some assists or rebounds too and is typically good for minutes in the mid twenties.

However, if Gradey Dick (points, 3s) happens to be available, I would target him instead as the Raptors have two games this week (Monday and Thursday) plus there is a bit of ROS potential here as well.

Alternatives: 

Precious Achiuwa regardless of KAT’s status, but he gets a major boost if KAT is out.

Cam Payne only if he is cleared to play.

Ariel Hukporti in a deep league only if KAT is out, otherwise he’s a zero-minute player. We aren’t going to trust Jericho Sims here although he could turn six minutes into 18 or 20 if he happens to have a better showing.

I’d take a flier on Kelly Olynyk in standard formats as a streamer as he can do a lot in a short space of time.

Ochai Agbaji (a “starter”), Jonathan Mogbo, Davion Mitchell and Ja’Kobe Walter are your “see what happens” guys who can pop off or give you almost nothing. I like Agbaji and Mogbo substantially more as potential fliers than Mitchell and Walter though.

If you want extra preparation for the entire week as a whole, go read The Week Ahead: Tournament Time by Mike Passador. I’ll leave the link to that below.

Click here to read The Week Ahead

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