NEW YORK—Go on, all you Raptor fans who mocked coach Dwane Casey and his “pound the rock” mantra and rolled your eyes at the thought of some 1,300-pound boulder as some talisman for the season.

Make light if you will but in the aftermath of a rather impressive victory, a guy who’d struggled all season before playing a significant role in a 90-85 road win invoked the rock, the mantra and the importance of doing your job every day because good results may come at any time.

“There are no moral victories and for us to come through tonight was good because we’re a young team and it’s going to help us with our confidence and knowing we can win tough games by closing them out,” said Rasual Butler, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

“That’s why coach (Dwane) Casey and the coaching staff, we have this statement: Pound the rock. We know it’s going to take work, just like the statement says, it might be the 101st time that you finally crack the rock; you have to continue to work every day.”

Casey has tried to instill that kind of work ethic in a team that, so far this season, has responded with a consistently hard effort.

But before Monday night, they hadn’t had any tangible things to show for it.

They’d dropped three games in a row, blown good leads in the last two, and another group might have been in danger of throwing up their arms at the futility of it all and taking at least a night off.

But this team didn’t.

And when the Knicks made an inevitable run and carved an 18-point lead to one with just over a minute remaining, they found some inner reserve to make the right play and fight through the mental fatigue.

Andrea Bargnani made a clutch jumper in the low post to make it a three-point game and then matched a Knicks basket with two clutch free throws with 17.7 seconds left.

And after the Raptors forced Carmelo Anthony into badly missing a potential game-tying three with 13.2 seconds left, Anthony Carter sealed the game with two foul shots of his own.

“At halftime, we talked about that: they were going to make a run, we needed to keep our composure, make the easy plays,” said Casey. “We still had 18 turnovers, that’s way too many turnovers for us. Great win for us but we’ve got to learn from it and cut down on our turnovers.”

Bargnani finished with 21 points, the same as DeMar DeRozan, as the Raptors were finally rewarded with a win from a good night’s work.

“(Sunday) coach told us to stick with what we were doing,” said Bargnani. “Keep working, keep doing the same thing because it was working . . . we just had to finish the game.

“That’s what we did today, we finished the game. We played for 48 minutes and in the fourth quarter, we made really good decisions.”

Jose Calderon, with nine points and 12 assists, logged a season-high 43 minutes but calmed things down offensively late in the game when the Raptors needed it most.

Anthony led the Knicks with 35 points and Toney Douglas had 22.

The Raptors did have the benefit of catching a Knicks team with a barren bench and a distinct lack of offensive firepower.

Amar’e Stoudemire missed the game with a bad ankle, a knee injury has rookie Iman Shumpert on the inactive list, and Baron Davis is still weeks away from being able to even practise.

Stoudemire, who hurt the ankle on Thursday against the Lakers, said before the game that he could be back Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, but that there were no guarantees.

That means extended minutes for the likes of rookie Josh Harrellson, who was a nonfactor, and a thin bench that puts all kinds of pressure on the starters to play long minutes.

NEW YORK—Go on, all you Raptor fans who mocked coach Dwane Casey and his “pound the rock” mantra and rolled your eyes at the thought of some 1,300-pound boulder as some talisman for the season.

Make light if you will but in the aftermath of a rather impressive victory, a guy who’d struggled all season before playing a significant role in a 90-85 road win invoked the rock, the mantra and the importance of doing your job every day because good results may come at any time.

“There are no moral victories and for us to come through tonight was good because we’re a young team and it’s going to help us with our confidence and knowing we can win tough games by closing them out,” said Rasual Butler, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

“That’s why coach (Dwane) Casey and the coaching staff, we have this statement: Pound the rock. We know it’s going to take work, just like the statement says, it might be the 101st time that you finally crack the rock; you have to continue to work every day.”

Casey has tried to instill that kind of work ethic in a team that, so far this season, has responded with a consistently hard effort.

But before Monday night, they hadn’t had any tangible things to show for it.

They’d dropped three games in a row, blown good leads in the last two, and another group might have been in danger of throwing up their arms at the futility of it all and taking at least a night off.

But this team didn’t.

And when the Knicks made an inevitable run and carved an 18-point lead to one with just over a minute remaining, they found some inner reserve to make the right play and fight through the mental fatigue.

Andrea Bargnani made a clutch jumper in the low post to make it a three-point game and then matched a Knicks basket with two clutch free throws with 17.7 seconds left.

And after the Raptors forced Carmelo Anthony into badly missing a potential game-tying three with 13.2 seconds left, Anthony Carter sealed the game with two foul shots of his own.

“At halftime, we talked about that: they were going to make a run, we needed to keep our composure, make the easy plays,” said Casey. “We still had 18 turnovers, that’s way too many turnovers for us. Great win for us but we’ve got to learn from it and cut down on our turnovers.”

Bargnani finished with 21 points, the same as DeMar DeRozan, as the Raptors were finally rewarded with a win from a good night’s work.

“(Sunday) coach told us to stick with what we were doing,” said Bargnani. “Keep working, keep doing the same thing because it was working . . . we just had to finish the game.

“That’s what we did today, we finished the game. We played for 48 minutes and in the fourth quarter, we made really good decisions.”

Jose Calderon, with nine points and 12 assists, logged a season-high 43 minutes but calmed things down offensively late in the game when the Raptors needed it most.

Anthony led the Knicks with 35 points and Toney Douglas had 22.

The Raptors did have the benefit of catching a Knicks team with a barren bench and a distinct lack of offensive firepower.

Amar’e Stoudemire missed the game with a bad ankle, a knee injury has rookie Iman Shumpert on the inactive list, and Baron Davis is still weeks away from being able to even practise.

Stoudemire, who hurt the ankle on Thursday against the Lakers, said before the game that he could be back Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats, but that there were no guarantees.

That means extended minutes for the likes of rookie Josh Harrellson, who was a nonfactor, and a thin bench that puts all kinds of pressure on the starters to play long minutes.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Despite two losses in two days on the West Coast, Knicks fans do have a little something to cheer about here at home – if they’ve got a sweet tooth.

Magnolia Bakery is celebrating the return of the NBA with New York Knicks-themed cupcakes.

The sweets first became available at select locations on Christmas Day to coincide with the Knicks’ 106-104 victory over the Celtics.

Photos: Knicks Defeat Celtics In Christmas Day Thriller

“This is the first year that we’ve introduced Knicks cupcakes,” a representative from the bakery told CBSNewYork. “So far, the fans really seem to enjoy them.”

Related: The 5 Best Bars To Watch A Knicks Game

The cupcakes ($3.25 each) will only be available in the bakery for home games.

But if you’re looking to cater your gamewatch with something other than beer and pretzels, fans can pre-order the treats throughout the season at any time.

The store is also offering Bulls and Lakers cupcakes at our respective Chicago and L.A. locations.

San Jose Mercury News staff and wire report

NEW YORK — The New York Knicks have claimed guard Jeremy Lin off waivers.

The Knicks are short-handed in the backcourt. Iman Shumpert could miss four weeks with a knee injury, Baron Davis might still be weeks away because of his bulging back disc and Mike Bibby missed the opener with a sore lower back.

The 6-foot-3 Lin was released by the Houston Rockets on Sunday to make room for Samuel Dalembert.

Lin averaged 2.6 points and 1.4 assists in 29 games with Golden State last season, but the Warriors waived him this month. The Rockets claimed him and then waived him again.

Lin played four years at Harvard, where he averaged 12.9 points.

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