Unstoppable Knicks 'peaking' with 9th win

LOS ANGELES • Julius Randle carried the offence, grabbing 31 points and 10 rebounds as the Knicks won their ninth straight National Basketball Association (NBA) game by routing the Toronto Raptors 120-103 on Saturday.

New York are in the midst of their longest winning streak in eight years, since they won 13 straight in the 2012-13 NBA season. R.J. Barrett scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half and had 12 rebounds and Derrick Rose chipped in with 19 points for the Knicks, who also won their seventh consecutive home game.

"We're peaking but we can still get a lot better," Randle said. "Offensively we're playing well, but defensively for a full 48 minutes I feel like we can be a lot better."

New York shot 56 per cent from the floor and made 16 shots from beyond the arc in front of the pandemic-limited crowd of 1,900 at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks improved to 34-27 on the season and are 61/2 games behind Eastern Conference leaders Brooklyn Nets. Fred VanVleet and O.G. Anunoby scored 27 apiece while Pascal Siakim added 26 for Toronto.

A week ago, the thought of any team beating the Philadelphia 76ers twice in three days would have seemed a daunting task.

But Milwaukee took care of business as Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 24 points to move into second place in franchise history for points scored as the Bucks clobbered the visitors 132-94.

He also had 14 rebounds and seven assists as he passed Glenn Robinson to reach 12,023 in his career. Robinson finished with 12,010. Antetokounmpo trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (14,211) for the club record.

"It's a great compliment," he said. "It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. I've got to keep working hard, keep believing in myself, keep polishing my skills, keep having great teammates that I love to be playing (with), a great coaching staff."

The Bucks completed the three-game season sweep of the Sixers and now hold a play-off tiebreaker if both teams finish with the same record. Milwaukee sit 21/2 games behind the Nets in the East in third.

The demands of the recent schedule have been extraordinarily tough for Philadelphia, who were without Ben Simmons for a fourth straight game with an illness, and have lost four straight.

Just prior to tip-off, the Sixers learnt that star centre Joel Embiid could not play because of a sore shoulder. He has now missed 19 games this season.

In Dallas, Luka Doncic finished with 18 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds as the Mavericks came from behind to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 108-93.In Salt Lake City, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points with 12 rebounds as the Minnesota Timberwolves clawed back from a 17-point deficit to upset the Utah Jazz 101-96.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE