Kristian Winfield: Knicks book trip to Las Vegas with NBA Cup quarterfinal win vs. Raptors

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Dec 9, 2025

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This game isn’t fun anymore. The Knicks sapped the life from the Scotiabank Arena.

The Toronto Raptors’ home crowd was alive and well for the NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup against the Knicks on Tuesday, and after an electrifying first-quarter duel between All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Brandon Ingram, the Raptors — without R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley — took a 39-35 lead into the second quarter.

And then the Knicks put the kids to sleep. Just like a team with championship aspirations is supposed to do.

A suffocating second quarter put the Knicks up for good, and they staved off Toronto’s repeated attempts to claw within single digits in a 117-101 victory over the Raptors on Tuesday. The Knicks outscored the Raptors, 34-13, in the second quarter to win just their fourth road game of the season.

“Scoring 39 in the first was easy for them,” Brunson said in his walk-off interview after scoring 35 points, 20 of which came in the first quarter. “They’re a good team, but we had to crack down a little bit. We had to up the pressure, find a way to get stops and score in transition.”

Now, after two heartbreaking NBA Cup quarterfinal losses in the opening two years of the in-season tournament’s inception, the Knicks will finally advance to the semifinals — the Las Vegas rounds — to face the Orlando Magic on Saturday.

The Knicks convincingly lost their first two games of the year against the Magic, but got their first one back in a 106-100 victory on Sunday.

“It’s an opportunity to win something and I’m happy with the way we played and the way we fought,” Brunson said. “We knew this team was gonna bounce back. We played them last week.”

And now, they get a chance to right their wrongs: The blowout loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023. Trae Young icing the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, then rolling imaginary dice on the center-court Knicks logo in 2024.

The Knicks — and it’s about time — are Vegas-bound to put those memories far out of reach.

“I think as competitors whenever you have the ability to win something you want to do that,” Brunson said after practice on Monday. “If you are a competitor, you should want to compete every time you step on the court. So for us, it’s important to first focus on Toronto, and if we can get past that, it’s something we definitely want to win. And we’re going to go out for it.”

It couldn’t have happened without their performance on Tuesday — plus a little bit of luck, because Miles McBride is out with an ankle injury, and his return timeline is unknown.

McBride is the Knicks’ hound on the perimeter, and he’s taken yet another pleasant step in his offensive development as a flamethrower from 3-point range. The Knicks downgraded him to questionable on Monday then ruled their sixth man out ahead of tipoff against the Raptors on Tuesday.

But Toronto also had their own injury issues: Quickley was a late scratch with an illness, and Barrett has been out since late November with a knee injury.

The Raptors entered their NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup without two of their best scorers — the former Knicks who would have liked nothing more than to stick it to the team that dealt them up north in the deal netting OG Anunoby for New York.

That wasn’t the Knicks’ problem. Their issue? Stopping Ingram, who matched Brunson nearly point for point in the opening period. Ingram scored 17 of his team-high 31 points in the opening period, picking the Knicks apart in the mid-range and from downtown.

New York, of course, is prepared to stop a wing in its tracks. There might not be a person walking in Canada capable of stopping Brunson from imposing his will.

Josh Hart added 21 points, and Mikal Bridges scored 15. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds after spending most of the first quarter in foul trouble.

Next-up: a pit stop home, before jets take off to Las Vegas.