New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyle Lowry totaled 21 points, 11 assists and six steals as the Toronto Raptors outlasted the New York Knicks in overtime, 95-90, in a seesaw battle at Madison Square Garden.
The matchup between the Atlantic Division leaders and the five-win Knicks was surprisingly tight as neither team led by more than seven points.
There were 12 leads changes and 21 ties, but Toronto controlled play in overtime as New York missed its first seven shots.
Terrence Ross finished with 22 points, while Lou Williams and Patrick Patterson contributed 15 and 13 points, respectively off the bench for Toronto, which improved to 5-3 without star guard DeMar DeRozan.
"It was one of those nights you just find a way to grind it out," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said.
Carmelo Anthony paced the Knicks with 34 points, but New York failed to build off Friday's victory over the Celtics.
A Ross floater in the lane broke an 84-84 tie with 2:38 left in regulation, and after a series of empty possessions, Anthony missed a contested 19-footer from the right wing.
After Lowry hit iron on a 3-point try inside the final minute, Anthony did the same from the top of the key. Toronto, though, knocked the rebound out of bounds, and Anthony took Patterson to the hole and put in a left-handed layup with 28.7 ticks left.
Lou Williams dribbled away most of the 24-second clock and was long on a 3- point try, but Patterson grabbed the rebound and Toronto called timeout with 2.7 on the clock.
Lowry drove left on the final possession of regulation and missed everything on his off-balanced baseline jumper.
Patterson drained a 3-pointer on Toronto's first touch in OT, and Lowry added a jumper the next time down. After Stoudemire split a pair at the foul line for the second time in the extra session, Lowry and Amir Johnson scored on back-to-back possessions for a 95-88 lead, and Toronto held on from there.
"(The loss) is more on what we didn't do, rather than what they did," Anthony said.
It was knotted at 27-all heading into the second quarter and another back-and- forth frame ended with Quincy Acy tossing a length-of-the-floor pass to Jose Calderon for a buzzer-beating layup that gave New York a 46-45 lead.
Ross' 13 third-quarter points helped Toronto take a 72-67 advantage into the final quarter, but a Shane Larkin 3-pointer evened things at 74-74 less than three minutes in.
Game Notes
Lowry committed nine of Toronto's 24 turnovers ... The Knicks gave it away 25 times ... Toronto came in averaging 108.4 points per game ... New York has dropped five in a row at home ... The Knicks were without guards J.R. Smith (foot) and Iman Shumpert (shoulder dislocation).
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.