The Toronto Raptors play host to the New York Knicks in a matinee performance Sunday afternoon at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors are hoping to improve on a mediocre home record, and move up from the bottom of the NBA standings. Toronto’s young squad will have a golden opportunity to build confidence while putting on a show for fans against the defensively-challenged Knicks.

The Raptors have played mostly to expectations so far this season, currently sporting a 6-11 record-good for third place in a weak Atlantic Division. The Knicks, meanwhile, have struggled with consistency and are once again one of the poorest defensive squads in the league, even after the blockbuster addition of Amare Stoudemire over the summer.

Toronto has shown flashes of potential this year, but is definitely a few years and a couple major signings away from playoff contention. Andrea Bargnani is the only “marquee” name on the Raptors’ roster, and is averaging 20 points but only five rebounds per contest. The Raptors have struggled with generating consistent offence outside of Bargnani, and second-year shooting guard DeMar DeRozan has yet to put together a string of solid performances. Jose Calderon has shown the ability to score in bunches, but is much more comfortable playing as a pure point guard.

For New York, Stoudemire has managed to produce some statistically impressive games, but has struggled as the leader of the franchise. The power forward is averaging 24 points and almost nine boards per game, but the Knicks are just one game above .500 at this point in the season. Any hope that Stoudemire or new point guard Raymond Felton would bring more of a defensive identity to Mike D’Antoni’s club has been thrown out the window: the Knicks are fourth in the league in points per game, but 28^th in points allowed.

The key matchup on Sunday afternoon will be at the wing positions, as DeRozan and Sonny Weems will take turns trying to stop the offensively explosive tandem of Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler. The Knicks duo has the edge in offensive abilities, but Weems and DeRozan are athletic enough to rein them in. Raptors power forward Amir Johnson will likely get the starting nod from Head Coach Jay Triano as rebounding-machine Reggie Evans sits out with injury. Johnson is still fairly raw, but has shown much better defensive awareness and offensive competency this season. If he can play Stoudemire tough without getting in foul trouble, the Raptors have a definite shot to win the game.

Without a point guard capable of running the pick-and-roll to perfection on every possession, New York has been living and dying by the three-point shot this season. The Knicks attempt the second-most threes of any team in the NBA, but are ranked 22^nd in three-point conversions. When the Knicks get hot, they can put up some of the highest NBA scores in the league, and the Raptors will do all they can to avoid being on the losing end of those scores.

First things first…..I’d cancel Christmas if it meant this never happened:

Now, I know Vince Carter essentially stopped playing for the Raptors, and engineered his trade to New Jersey, for which the Raptors got virtually nothing. We wondered just how “injured” he was when things as small as a sprained finger made him fall to the ground like he was shot with a potato gun. But Carter thrives on being the villian, as proven by the video above, and the fact that he’s put up 29.5 points, 9.5 boards and 5.5 assists in two trips to the Air Canada Center this season. So maybe we should try cheering on Vinsanity when he hits the ACC next season (the Nets don’t come to Toronto again this year). At least we still have better NBA betting odds than Carter’s Nets.

I know: I can’t do it either. I’ll boo Vince at his funeral. But it was worth a thought. Then again, it should be just about time for this to happen: