Knicks’ injuries show how fragile line is between NBA failure and success

It was all on display early, a reminder of just how fragile this can all seem, how delicate it can all be. For six minutes of the first quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns, already nursing a sore knee, coasted up and down the court with a noticeable limp.

Then there was Josh Hart, who ran into Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl, winced, and soon left the floor to have himself checked out.

Neither of these things proved terribly damaging. Towns was his usual brilliant self across 34 minutes, collecting 27 points and 13 rebounds, even losing the limp for the latter part of the game. Hart had a Hart game: 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, and when he came back into the game, he looked tip-top, too, his usual hellfire self.

All of this allowed the Knicks to exhale for a few moments. The Raptors were the perfect foil to end a three-game losing streak, and the Knicks pulled away in the fourth quarter for a stress-free 112-98 win. The real fun begins Friday, with Oklahoma City in town for a rematch, with the Bucks to follow them into the Garden on Sunday afternoon.