Magic 104, Knicks 98: “Tom Thibodeau isn’t worried about the Rockets, Bulls, or Lakers — he has his hands full with the Magic”
After taking one step forward vs. the Pacers on Monday, the Knicks took two steps back vs. the lowly Magic, dropping yet another home game to Orlando and falling to 1-2 against one of the league’s worst teams.
Prologue
Somehow, on a brisk Wednesday night in November, against the Orlando Magic, this one felt personal.
The Knicks had been poor the past couple of weeks; 3-5 in their past eight despite coming in off a home win against the Pacers. Randle, RJ, and the rest of the starters had been slumping majorly.
Chapter 1
In the early going, the threes were certainly flying, as Randle drained one for the first points of the game.
Mitch was really active all around, which was great to see off another will-he-won’t-he injury. He had two offensive boards in the first three minutes of the game, including earning a trip to the free throw line before a block on the other end.
However, on the other end, Wendell Carter was immediately giving Mitch and the Knicks problems, raining a three and getting a tip-in.
RJ showed some nice patience offensively after missing his first three, with a drive and dish to Mitch for his first assist.
Kemba had been hot his past few games, and was looking spry on both ends early in this one with a pretty euro off of a pick-six steal.
RJ really seemed seemed to be playing with more confidence getting into the paint, with a couple of nice penetrations, including a wraparound floater.
Alec Burks continued his underappreciated play with a defensive highlight:
Then, the cover went onto the hoop for the Knicks, not to mention Kemba and Obi both committing an “Iman Shumpert,” i.e. a stepped-on-the-line turnover.The Magic took a 21-19 lead with a minute to go in the quarter.
Then Obi happened. A put-back jam and an alley-oop from his buddy IQ ended the quarter on a positive note.
Chapter 2
The second quarter started with some crisp rotations and excellent defense, forcing a shot clock violation. Defense byke?
Then IQ stayed hot by raining an open three.
Mr. Underrated, Alec Burks, showed his offensive bag too as the league’s best bench extended the lead:
Obi had what felt like his first missed alley-oop of all time, and then Mo Bamba finished an alley of his own on the other end. Bamba, per Mike Breen, “looks different” — he was really impacting the game on both ends.
Cole Anthony, though, who killed the Knicks in their previous loss the Magic, was freezing cold, missing floater after three after layup. Credit to D-Rose for his great point off attack defense, which has been a theme all season.
Speaking of D-Rose, he continued to show superpowers in transition, going from 100 to 0 real quick as defenders flew by him:
The Magic continued to keep things close, though, and went to a zone late in the quarter, not the first team to use it with success against New York this season.
Rj reentered the game and continued to heat up, hitting a nice contested finish before getting inside again with a pretty alley-oop to Mitch.
Oh, nice, another Iman Shumpert.
Meanwhile, Knick killer Terrence Ross was up to his old ways. He scored seven consecutive points to cut things back to one.
Randle was heating up on the other end, too. He really seems to be taking the catch-and-shoot three more often of late:
Then, somehow, the Knicks entered the locker room trailing after a 30-footer from Cole Anthony. Another tough game at home… sigh.
Interlude
Really tough to be down in this situation; the Magic seem to have figured the Knicks out to an extent. They continued to prevent the easy threes as they did in the previous game; New York was 6-22 at the half.
On the other end, Terrence Ross was doing what he always seems to, with 15 at the break. The Knicks struggled a bit to contain the Carter/Bamba duo both on the perimeter and the offensive glass, with much of the blame going to Randle but also some meh minutes from Taj.
Then again, maybe the Knicks could turn things around if they simply stopped stepping out of bounds.
The dread was already setting in for another third quarter of death.
Chapter 3
And… Kemba Walker stepped out of bounds.
On the other end, two quick buckets for Anthony, and the third quarter of death was well underway.
RJ regressed back into his offensive struggles, up to 0-5 from three and then showing some real hesitancy offensively. Luckily, Mitch continued the effort plays with an incredible offensive rebound/fake/and-one put-back.
Just when I think I’m out, he pulls me back in! RJ came back off his seventh rebound with a nice coast-to-coast at the behest of Clyde, drawing the foul and getting the finish:
Bench time! The starters yielded an additional two points and the Knicks were down 61-58 with 4:46 to go in the quarter. Three field goals and three turnovers in the period to that point.
The Knicks continued to fall behind. Randle picked up his fourth foul of the quarter and New York looked up down by 10 after a 9-0 Orlando run.
And finally a three! IQ drained one to get New York to 8-34 from downtown. Remember, in the previous game vs. Orlando, the Knicks were 27% from three.
Then D-Rose woke up, hitting two triples of his own to get the Knicks back within five.
Chapter 4
“Right now Tom Thibodeau isn’t worried about the Rockets, Bulls, or Lakers — he has his hands full with the Magic,” Mike Breen said.
D-Rose was back at it with the point of attack defense! He swatted Suggs out of bounds for his second block of the game.
Unfortunately, of course, that turned into a Magic triple, and all of the sudden it was back to a 9-point Magic lead.
OBI TREY?! Entering the game 2-19 from three, Obi drained a big one halfway through the quarter, and the Knicks clawed their way within three.
After a pretty finish by Franz Wagner, another nice IQ-Obi connection kept the Magic lead at three.
RJ had his smoothest move of the game, a side-step layup to cut things to one, and then the Knicks locked down to force a 24-second violation.
ANOTHER OBI TREY?!?!
The Knicks scored 10 straight before a Gary Harris floater settled things back down, and the Knicks were somehow up three.
The Magic wouldn’t go away, though. Jalen Suggs stayed hot (3-4 from three) and it was a 1-point game before a Thibs timeout. Who would close the game?
Obi had tied his career-high with 14 points, and remained in the game in favor of Randle!
Look at Obi, man.
The guy has worked so hard on his defense, and it’s so great to see things work out for him thus far.
Mitch got to a double-double with another offensive put-back, but then the daily injury came as he ran to the bench holding his hip.
You know what that means — an Obi-Randle lineup!
But they didn’t get off to a good start — a foul on Anthony and then a turnover to a Ross slam put the Magic back up by one.
Then Rose replaced Obi for maybe the smallest lineup we’ve seen this year.
Oh goodness. An absolute poster by Franz Wagner and and and-one. A 2-point deficit with 1:30 remaining, and then Rose, who’s been so amazing this season, threw the game away with a horrible cross-court pass in transition leading to a dunk.
Epilogue
Pain.
If you read all this way after that brutal loss, kudos to you. But also, is this a cry for help?
The Knicks simply don’t look like a great team right now, and haven’t for weeks. Randle (13 points) and RJ (17 points on 19 shots) continue to slump, and a rare off night for D-Rose was a nail in the coffin for a team that is now 0-2 against the Magic at home.
Next up, the Rockets on Saturday after a long layoff — a should-be gimme that probably isn’t. One game at a time — it’s a long season.
