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Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) shoots over New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose (25) and centre Joakim Noah (13) in the second half at Air Canada Centre in Toronto Jan. 15, 2017.Dan Hamilton

Early in the third quarter, a disgruntled Joakim Noah of the New York Knicks was handed a technical for grousing about some non-call and DeMar DeRozan sank the free throw for the Toronto Raptors.

The meltdown was officially on.

What followed was an embarrassment by the Knicks, a total capitulation featuring a litany of egregious defensive blunders and an all-round unwillingness to even to try to compete.

The result was an emphatic 116-101 victory by the Raptors (27-13) at Air Canada Centre on Sunday afternoon, their third NBA win in a row to inch closer to the Cleveland Cavaliers' perch atop the Eastern Conference standings.

After DeRozan's free throw, Toronto's DeMarre Carroll stripped the ball from a confused Willy Hernangomez near midcourt and waltzed all the way to the basket for an easy dunk.

Hernangomez was victimized later for another turnover, this time by Toronto's Lucas Nogueira.

The ball wound up again in the hands of Carroll, who finished with 20 points, and he capitalized with a bank jumper to increase Toronto's lead to 80-56.

A goaltending call resulted in another Toronto basket, and on it went. At one point the Toronto lead had stretched to a ridiculous 38 points.

It was fitting that the quarter ended with New York guard Brandon Jennings losing his dribble as the Knicks were trying to set up for the final shot.

The Raptors' aggressive play at both ends of the court certainly played a large part in the unravelling of the Knicks, who lost for the 10th time in their past 12 outings and displayed shocking lethargy over large stretches of Sunday's game.

"I was really proud with the way the starters came out and really set the tone, especially starting the third quarter, which has usually been our Achilles heel," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. "We came out, set the tone defensively and built a 30-point lead.

"My hat's off to those guys."

DeRozan led the Raptors with 23 points while Norman Powell contributed 21 off the bench. Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 16 rebounds.

Carmelo Anthony had 18 to lead the Knicks.

The numbers from the 12 minutes of horror perfectly sum up New York's ineptitude in the third.

The Knicks were outscored 27-8, making just four of their 21 shots, and committed seven team turnovers.

By holding the Knicks to just eight points, the Raptors tied their franchise low for points allowed in the third quarter.

"They were not thinking defence, they were thinking offence and our offence wasn't going," Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said about the third-quarter debacle. "I don't know if it's giving up. You can ask them that."

DeRozan and Carmelo Anthony both carded 10 points in the opening quarter when the Raptors emerged with a 27-26 lead, despite shooting just 37.5 per cent (9 of 24).

The Raptors began to assert their offensive might in the second quarter with Terrence Ross draining an early three-pointer.

Lowry followed suit shortly after while doing what he does best – drawing contact from Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who was dinged for a foul.

Lowry sank the free throw to complete the four-point play, which lifted Toronto in front 36-26.

The Raptors' lead extended to as many as 16 before they settled for a 69-54 lead in a first half in which they made eight of their 16 from long distance.

In the third quarter, the game swung mightily for Toronto, which took a commanding 96-62 lead into the fourth, when Casey had the luxury of being able to give his starters plenty of rest.

Even the little-used Bruno Caboclo got into the game in what was a mercy substitution with just 10.9 seconds left.

Caboclo walked on the court and watched as teammate Cory Joseph dribbled out the remaining seconds.

The Raptors have already proved they can score with the best of the NBA. Against the Knicks they held a 66-30 advantage in points scored in the paint.

But the Raptors' defensive play has also picked up. On Sunday, Toronto held New York to less than 43-per-cent shooting while committing nine steals.

Casey said the Raptors are not going to become a defensive juggernaut overnight.

"But the way we played in the third quarter has got to be our disposition, at least make people feel us.

"If we're just going through the motions trying to win 50 games – cool," Casey said. "But if want to do something important we got to make sure we play like we did in the third quarter."

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