Knicks 108, Magic 85: A successful holiday vacation in Disney World
The good times just keep on keeping on after the Knicks out-gritted the gritty, gutty Magic
A cursory look at last night’s box score for the New York Knicks’ matchup with the Orlando Magic might indicate that, as has become a recurring phenomenon, the Knicks coasted for a half against a scrappy underdog before turning up the heat to pull away. They’ve played down to their competition at times, and especially coming off an emotional win over the San Antonio Wembanyamas Spurs on Christmas, Friday had “trap game” written all over it. Meanwhile, the Magic have played top teams very tough, maintaining their hold on the fourth seed in spite of key injuries to stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, plus high-energy/ thorn-in-Karl-Anthony-Towns’-side Moritz Wagner. Earlier this week, the Magic defeated the defending champion Boston Celtics (albeit with the Celtics missing star forward Jayson Tatum).
Yet the Knicks have, especially of late – including earlier this month against these same Magic – been able to overcome slow starts, shooting variance, and off-nights from key players to turn it on and let their talent carry the day. In many ways, this night was another example of that.
The Magic got off to a hot start, getting 3-pointers from an unlikely source (Ed. note: Orlando is second-to-last in made threes and dead last in 3-point accuracy, so all their sources are unlikely). Jalen Suggs, recognized more for his pesty defense (more on that later), started 3–of-3 from deep on a night he finished with 27 points. Center Goga Bitadze hit his first three of the season as the Magic jumped out to an eight-point lead. On defense, the home team leaned into their trademark physical defense. The Knicks won the opening tip and Suggs was immediately on Brunson, bodying him up, not giving him an inch of space. As it turned out, this would be the double-edged sword that’d swing the game.
Never one to shrink from a challenge, Brunson came out aggressively in bouncing back from a poor shooting performance on Christmas. Against an imposing, physical frontline he relentlessly attacked the paint, hitting floaters, fadeaways and layups while getting to the foul line. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a frequent target, with Brunson hunting him on switches. Caldwell-Pope is a veteran, experienced defender who quite often gave it back to Brunson, but stars are stars for a reason, and the Magic struggled to contain Brunson, who finished with a ho hum 26 on 11-of-21 shooting.
The Knicks shot 60% from the field in the first half but struggled to take control of the game, in no small part to the Magic out-shooting them (both in volume and efficiency) from distance. At times this season the Knicks have struggled to generate open catch-and-shoot threes, and while they were able to get whatever they wanted in the paint the math caught up with them; the teams entered halftime deadlocked at 54. The third quarter would provide no let-up from the Magic, who opened the scoring with a Caldwell-Pope three.
The game turned on two phenomena. One was Suggs – who tormented the Knicks all night with his aggressive defense while providing the Magic’s most consistent source of offense – picking up his fourth and fifth fouls early in the third, limiting him to just 26 minutes. During his absence, the Magic struggled to do much of anything on offense, scoring only 31 after intermission. The other phenomenon was one Joshua Aaron Hart.
After the Christmas come-from-behind victory over the Spurs, much of the glory was (rightfully) showered upon Mikal Bridges. But Hart was every bit as crucial, swooping in for rebounds and loose balls, pushing the ball in transition and coming up with timely deflections. It happened again last night, when Hart was a man possessed in the second half, grabbing seven rebounds in the third quarter alone. Against an Orlando team that prides itself on toughness, winning 50-50 balls and outgrinding you, Hart was quick to remind the world that while everybody else may have adopted the grind, he was born in it. And it was more than his glasswork that provided the Knicks a lift: Hart finished with 23 on 7-of-11 shooting, aggressively attacking the rim and getting to the foul line a career-high 10 times, draining eight free throws. He also hit a key three in the third to help the Knicks expand their lead.
With the third quarter shifting momentum – and the lead – squarely in the Knicks’ favor, the fourth was rather academic, even as Orlando continued to fight. Towns would throw down an exclamation point to seal the win, and that was all she wrote. In a game in which they shot just 4-of-15 from three, the Knicks won by 23. In 2024. Is this team special? Well, they’re showing a lot of signs.
Notes
In the Knicks’ recent game against the New Orleans Pelicans, a team with a much worse record, they fell behind by as many as 14 in the third. In their previous game, Towns scored 31 on a bit of an off-night from Brunson; to that point in the Pelicans game, Brunson had only taken six shots while Towns struggled from the field. I remember thinking, “Okay, KAT picked you up last game; now it’s your turn.” As if on cue, Brunson turned it on for a quarter and a half and the Knicks won going away.
I remember being on the other side of that so many times when the Knicks were struggling in previous years. Whether it was Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James or so many other stars, there were so many games where an upstart Knicks team would build a lead against a heavily-favored opponent, only to see an MVP-level player on the other team go “Enough” for a few minutes and snatch the game away. Now, the Knicks have that guy. Hell, they have two of them (three?). Brunson’s composure in the face of an extremely physical defense clearly focusing its efforts on him was impressive, as was his shotmaking and playmaking. Whether knocking down fadeaways over (the much bigger) Caldwell-Pope or finding cutters with all 10 defensive eyes locked on him, Brunson controlled the game. Nine assists to just one turnover was every bit as impressive as his scoring.
I don’t know what more there is to say about Hart. Calling him a role player or a glue guy understates his importance to and impact on this team. Much like Winston Wolf, his specialty is solving problems. Need a big rebound? The 6-foot-4 dynamo will glide through the trees and secure it. An easy transition basket? Watch him go coast to coast to finish, get to the line or find a teammate. Need him to knock down a three? He does that, too, shooting a career-high 40% from deep more than a third of the way through the season. In addition to the aforementioned 23 points, Hart chipped in 13 rebounds, an assist, two steals AND two blocks. After the game, I tweeted that Hart was Gen Z Shawn Marion. While this may be an unfair comparison (Marion was a multiple All-Star and substantially better on defense), it’s tough not to be reminded of Marion when thinking of Hart stuffing the box score with whatever the team needs on any given night.
Towns had a bit of a quiet game by his standards, with “just” 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. But his presence is always felt, and the threat of his shooting created numerous opportunities at the rim (via cuts and drives) for his teammates. Tough to overstate just how transformative he’s been for this team.
Landry Shamet saw his first action as a Knick and gave them exactly what they want. Seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, including a nice finish at the rim off a drive-and-kick from Cameron Payne. On defense, he was active and provided some good energy. For a team that has had to tax Hart, Bridges and OG Anunoby heavily (Bridges leads the league in minutes, with OG fourth and Hart fifth), a reliable floor-spacing wing who can do his job on defense for 10 minutes is just what the doctor ordered.
With the win, the Knicks improve to 21-10, clinch what could be a very importan seeding tie-breaker over the Magic and extend their road and overall winning streaks to 6 games. They will look to keep it going with two straight in the nation’s capital against the Washington Wizards.
