Raptors Ready For Knicks

Vince Carter sent a loud message to the New York Knicks: Beware in the first round.

Carter scored 34 points and the Raptors showed they're ready for a possible first-round matchup against the Knicks with a convincing 86-71 victory Friday night.

Carter shot a stellar 14-for-19 from the field, making an assortment of long-range jumpers, while Antonio Davis added 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting and Tracy McGrady had 11 points and nine rebounds.

"This feels good. It gives us confidence but we still need to win games," Carter said. "Just as easily as we won this game we could have lost the game. We just have to continue to work on our confidence."

"We were back on our heals but that's my fault. I don't have them working as a team," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "They were knocking us down. We were standing around. Carter and their physical presence was the difference."

"He knows that we know that we don't want to play him," Van Gundy said.

The Raptors won the season series 3-1, with all the victories coming by decisive margins. If the playoffs were to start now, the Knicks (No. 3) and Toronto (No. 6) would face each other in the opening round.

Toronto is 2 1/2 games ahead of seventh-place Detroit in the conference.

"I'm disappointed in the way that we lost. The last three times it seemed like they kicked our butts and they have our number," Ewing said. "They played like they were very confident We just have to play a lot better."

Davis set the tone on a number of strong drives to the net and had 10 points in the first quarter as Toronto led 28-11.

The Raptors finished the quarter on a 9-0 run when Allan Houston took a needless foul with 1.3 seconds left on Dell Curry's 3-point attempt. Curry knocked down all three free throws.

"This was a team effort. Everybody was getting the job done tonight and it made it easier for me," Carter said. "It helped that Antonio helped get things going. They had to worry about the whole team today."

Although Carter was held to just two points in the first, he stormed back with 13 straight points in the second quarter, all of them coming on long jumpers to give Toronto a 41-22 lead with 4:52 left in the half.

The Knicks' 27 points was the lowest first-half total by an opponent in Raptors history.

Things didn't get any better for the Knicks, who fell behind by 26 in the third quarter.

New York began a 6-0 run with 4:26 left in the quarter to make it 59-39, but Ewing had his shot blocked by McGrady and Latrell Sprewell missed a wide-open dunk.

Carter then scored on a layup, ending the Knicks' only challenge of the game.

Sprewell had only six points for New York on 3-of-13 shooting. Marcus Camby had 11 points and 12 rebounds but four turnovers, and Kurt Thomas had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

New York had 19 turnovers to Toronto's five and shot a miserable 11-of-19 from the line.

Notes