Raptors pull out overtime victory over Knicks

NEW YORK — Perimeter shooting and perimeter defense are not necessarily things forward Patrick Patterson had been known for before joining the Toronto Raptors.

On Sunday, he shined in both areas in the latest win for the Raptors.

Patterson hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the opening minute of overtime and also helped keep forward Carmelo Anthony scoreless in the extra period as the Raptors gutted out a 95-90 victory over the New York Knicks.

Patterson scored 13 points and made five of six shots, including three 3-pointers. His biggest one was an open shot from the left side with 4:22 remaining that provided the Raptors with an 89-86 edge.

“I became a guy who hits 3s, pick-and-pop, a stretch four but that was a lot of work,” said Patterson, who is shooting a career-high 46.2 percent (37-of-80) from behind the arc. “This was just throwing it into the fish tank and it worked out.

Toronto did not surrender the lead as Patterson helped defensively by forcing Anthony to miss all three shots in overtime and into an offensive foul. Anthony topped the 30-point mark for the fourth time by getting 34 points and drove around Patterson for the game-tying layup with 28.7 seconds remaining after missing a pair of 19-footers.

“Even though Carmelo got 34, I thought he worked for every bit of it and that’s what you got to have a great superstar like that do,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said.

In the extra period, Anthony missed a 20-footer and a pair of 3-pointers. The first missed shot came after Patterson’s 3-pointer and the two missed 3-pointers came after point guard Kyle Lowry hit a 16-footer for a 93-88 edge with two minutes remaining.

“They put a bigger guy on me,” Anthony said. “They denied a lot of things we were able to run throughout the course of the game. They applied a lot of pressure and made us play faster than we want to play.”

Anthony shot 11-of-24 and with Patterson playing almost of all the final 17 minutes, he was 4-of-11 from the floor.

“It was a big challenge tonight as far as guarding one of the best players in the NBA and my mindset was to try to deny him the ball as much as possible and if he caught it, hopefully he didn’t (go) off the dribble and if he did hopefully J.V. (center Jonas Valanciunas) or Amir (Johnson) are at the rim,” Patterson said. “Other than that I’m not really known for my down the stretch perimeter clutch defense like that, but it felt good. My teammates had total confidence in me and coach had total confidence in me as far as keeping me on Melo throughout those last crunch-time minutes and thankfully it worked.

Added Lowry: “Carmelo is going to make some really good shots. Tonight Pat contested really well.”

Guard Terrence Ross led the Raptors with a season-high 22 points with 13 coming in the third quarter when Toronto rallied from a six-point deficit and took a 72-67 lead into the fourth. Lowry added 21 and his two clutch shots in overtime atoned for missing an open six-footer with eight-tenths of a second left in regulation.

While a segment of Toronto fans cheered the team at the end of its 18th win in 24 games, it was another frustrating night for the 5-21 Knicks. New York was trying to win consecutive games for the second time this season but was 1-of-8 in overtime.

“We lost down the stretch,” New York forward Ama’re Stoudemire said. “We had a chance to win. We played solid in the first half. We made the hustle plays and had energy on the court. Down the stretch, we couldn’t pull it out.”

Guard Tim Hardaway Jr. started in place of J.R. Smith (left foot) and added 18 points but shot 4-of-14 and had five turnovers

NOTES: Although G DeMar DeRozan missed his eighth straight game and is a few weeks away from returning from a torn abductor longus tendon strain, Toronto coach Dwane Casey has allowed him to speak up in coaches meetings. “He says a lot,” Casey said. “He just doesn’t say a lot to you guys (media).” … DeRozan participated in the morning shootaround, did pregame work on the court and Casey compared his presence in meetings to when he was an assistant to George Karl in Seattle and Nate McMillan sat in. … New York coach Derek Fisher said is aware that some fans might want the team to tank and said that it’s a tough balance with expiring contracts and integrating a new system. “It’s not a great combination for cohesion and team chemistry, but I think there’s enough guys in the locker room that want to do it the right way,” Fisher said. … With G Iman Shumpert out for about three weeks due to a dislocated left shoulder, Fisher said that second-year G Tim Hardaway could get more minutes.