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FINNs EARLY NBA EAST TOP of the TICKET I - Knicks at Raptors Total Over 222.0 (-110)  over-under position is good up to 224 points
3% game rating

The Knicks morphed into being more offensive than defensive when coach Tom T moved Quinton Grimes into the starting rotation, the first five if you will. 

New York has always depended on a rim protector in their defensive scheme under Thibodeau and the loss of Mitchel Robinson wrecks any chance this team has to be that defense. in the Knickerbockers' first game without Robinson, you saw the New York troupe for the next month-plus which now finds Brunson, Grimes, Barrett, Randle, and Jericho Sims filling out the first five. 

The loss to Atlanta on Friday night found the same D-rating with Sims getting starter minutes as has been the case when Sims was filling a role in one of the first two rotations. When Sims is part of the starting core the Knickerbockers allow a porous 120 points per 100 possessions. Friday night, in a game we backed the underdog Knicks, New York surrendered 1.457 points per possession. 

Note that I am not suggesting that the entire defensive regression and the 139 points they surrendered to Atlanta is due to the loss of Mitchell and the insertion of Sims … the combination of the first five now has a dynamic that is night and day difference over the course of 20-to-25 minutes of court time. 

Sims will be backed up by Isaiah Hartenstein and the Knicks metrics without Mitchell on the hardwood moving forward force Coach Tom to play more transition possessions and be creative defensively by gambling and playing an abundance of help defense. 

Toronto has returned to being whole after suffering a ridiculous number of injuries to their primary core group and they will test the Knicks in transition defense and sag defensively giving New York every chance at open looks, even unguarded looks with long two-point and three-line looks the entire night. 

Knicks at Raptors Total Over 222.0 (-110)