Orlando Magic Grades: New York Knicks 106, Orlando Magic 95

The Orlando Magic’s lazy effort cost them the game as the New York Knicks dismantled a Magic team coming off a thrilling double-overtime thriller on Tuesday.

	1	2	3	4	T
Magic	19	28	25	23	95
Knicks	27	30	24	25	106

The Orlando Magic had a tough task at hand. They had to contain a very offensively gifted starting lineup with Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose and Kristaps Porzingis — the three of them coming off a combined 80-point effort in the win against Indiana on Tuesday.

It was New York’s bench players, though, that stole the show and buried any chance for Orlando to get a road win in a 106-95 loss at Madison Square Garden on Thur.

The Knicks’ bench gave them a huge boost as they scored 44 points, led by Willy Hernangomez and former Magic player Kyle O’Quinn. The two big men combined for 29 points on 57-percent shooting and 21 rebounds. O’Quinn was a huge boost off the Knicks bench as he totaled five blocks in the game.

The Knicks held a very comfortable lead throughout the night, as their star player, Carmelo Anthony played the second fewest minutes of his season with 29 minutes. The Magic did a great job containing Anthony, holding him to 5-for-17 shooting (29 percent) after an enormous burst on Tuesday against Indiana, where he scored 35 points.

Rose and Porzingis had average games, as neither had games that would necessarily be considered a great game.

But the Knicks bench simply cost the Magic the game.

Brandon Jennings may have been 1 for 5 from the field, but he was a big part why the Magic lost the game. He drove to the basket which attracted the Magic’s shot blockers, which then resulted in ample amount of space for the Knicks shooters. New York hit nine out of their 20 three-point attempts. Jennings recorded 12 assists in 22 minutes.

“I wouldn’t say were sloppy offensively, we just missed a lot of shots.” coach Frank Vogel said after the Magic shot an abysmal 5 for 27 from 3-point range, a season-worst performance.

The Magic had no one outside of Serge Ibaka and Evan Fournier who were bright spots on offense. The two combined for 44 points on 54 percent shooting, as the rest of the team shot 20 for 55, good for 36 percent.

The Magic were out-rebounded 52-41. The Knicks corralled 18 offensive rebounds opposed to the 10 the Magic got. That gave the Knicks an ample amount of second-chance opportunities.

Evan Fournier

SG, Orlando Magic

He contributed in every way, he drove to the basket and finished tough layups over shot blockers such as Kristaps Porzingis. He also created an ample amount of opportunities for his teammates, dishing out four assists. He finished with 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting too, one of the few players who shot efficiently on the night.

Fournier did a great job defensively on Courtney Lee, as he was often forced to pass out of his shot due to the limited space he was given by Fournier to get the shot off. All in all, Fournier had a great game all around and he is the least to blame for the pathetic effort shown by the Magic.

Elfrid Payton

PG, Orlando Magic

Thursday night against the Knicks was one of those nights.

He was not able to convert on the floaters in the middle of the lane Magic fans are accustomed to seeing Payton hitting. He was not himself on the defensive end of the floor as both, Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings were able to get past him with ease and score or pass for an easy bucket. Payton’s six turnovers committed does not help his case either.

He was not good from any aspect of the game as he looked completely opposite to the impressive outing he had against Miami in a thrilling win on Tuesday night.

Serge Ibaka

PF, Orlando Magic

He hit big shots as he attempted to bring the Magic back from a deficit. Ibaka had a team-best plus-minus rating with +3, which made him one of three players on the Magic squad with a plus rating.

Ibaka was great at closing out Kristaps Porzingis as he was often not given a lot of room to get off his shot. Ibaka was not as great on protecting the rim as he only had one blocked shot on the night, as he was often too late to contest. He also struggled on switching on the pick and roll and guarding Brandon Jennings on a one-on-one situation at times, as he was often on his heel questioning on whether to step up or stay back.

New York Knicks

16-13, 5th East

Kyle O’Quinn’s five blocks gave the Knicks a lot of energy as their home crowd at Madison Square Garden stood behind them in a performance that was good in all aspects.

The Knicks were sharing the ball as well, as they assisted on 26 of their 41 shots. The Knicks defense, ranked 25th in the league, was great all around as they held the Magic to only 96 points. This is a very heartwarming performance for all Knicks fans as their team played arguably their best all-around game of the season.

The Magic will look to put this upsetting loss behind them, as they head to the Amway Center tomorrow to face a young Lakers squad who is also coming off a loss. The Magic will have a chance to redeem themselves as they look to better their awful 5-10 record at home.