TORONTO — As if losing Mitchell Robinson wasn’t enough, the Knicks were without another key member of their rotation Sunday night.
Valuable reserve Immanuel Quickley missed his first game of the season with a sore left knee. His status is unclear moving forward. Quickley was a game-time decision.
“Just general soreness,” coach Tom Thibodeau said before the Knicks lost for the fourth straight time, 125-116, to the Raptors.
The 6-foot-3 Quickley is having a strong season, averaging career-highs of 12.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 27.4 minutes. He had 11 points in 36 minutes in Friday’s loss to the Hawks.
Although he is only shooting 33.2% from 3-point range, the other areas of his game have improved, particularly on the defensive end.
Quickley has the top defensive rating (105.9) on the Knicks and his NET rating of plus-6.2 is second on the team. Only Robinson, out for the next month with a fractured right thumb, is better at 8.0. Quickley is durable. He appeared in 78 games last year.
Thibodeau stuck with a nine-man rotation in Quickley’s absence, using veteran Evan Fournier in his place. Fournier, who last appeared in a game on Jan. 9 against the Bucks, scored eight points in 21 minutes.
“I thought he gave us good minutes,” Thibodeau said of the veteran. “He’s been in the rotation before. I like the size [on] the wing. They’re big. So I thought a little more size might help.”
Obi Toppin finally produced offensively, scoring in double figures for the first time since Nov. 13. He scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half, all on 3-pointers. The four triples were a season-high for the forward. He only played three second-half minutes.
RJ Barrett received a warm ovation from the Scotiabank Arena crowd in pregame introductions. Barrett is from nearby Mississauga, a Toronto suburb. He scored a game-high 30 points in the loss.
