National Basketball Association

Raptors-Knicks Preview

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:48 p.m. ET

foxsports

Should they have to deal with an injury or choose to keep resting their regulars before the postseason, the Toronto Raptors might remain in good hands if their latest game was any indication.

Still holding a faint chance at the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed, the Raptors will try to keep those hopes alive while breaking their single-season mark for road victories Sunday night against the New York Knicks.

Toronto (53-26) showed the strength of its roster while three usual starters and DeMarre Carroll sat out Friday against playoff-hopeful Indiana. The Raptors were led by Norman Powell, Delon Wright and Cory Joseph in a 111-98 victory.

"It just shows how deep we are when guys like Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan) and (Luis) Scola can take a game off and we have a big team win like that," said Powell, who scored a career-high 27 points. "It just shows how good and talented we are when we all play together and lock in."

It's unclear what lineup coach Dwane Casey will use Sunday with Toronto locked into one of the top two seeds in the East but still in contention for the top spot. The Raptors' chances were kept alive Saturday with Cleveland's 105-102 loss in Chicago.

They trail the Cavaliers by 2 1/2 games and hold the tiebreaker by going 2-1 in the season series.

The Raptors can remain in contention for at least another day by surpassing their 22 road wins from each of the past two seasons. They have come up short in their last two attempts to break that mark, falling to San Antonio and Atlanta.

Toronto, which has set a single-season mark for overall victories, won 122-95 in its only other trip to New York this season Feb. 22 and has taken two of three overall matchups.

It's unclear if the Raptors will have to face Knicks star rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis in this one. He's missed the past five games because of an ailing right shoulder.

Jose Calderon (quad) and Lance Thomas (knee) have also been out.

Although the Knicks have nothing to play for, Porzingis is hoping to return in one of the final two games and New York (32-48) will play its home finale Sunday.

"I want to come back, but it's not really in my hands," he said. "If I can recover and be 100 percent before the season is over, then I'll play."

Carmelo Anthony was dealing with a stomach illness during the Knicks' visit to Philadelphia on Friday and sat out the final 17-plus minutes. He still chipped in 20 points in a 109-102 victory while Robin Lopez had 24 points and 15 rebounds.

"I believed in my teammates that they were going to pull it out," Anthony said. "It felt good to sit in the fourth."

Lowry is averaging 24.1 points on 51.2 percent shooting and has connected at 47.7 percent from 3-point range in his last eight games against the Knicks.