Orlando suffers
Wobbly Magic fall way short against skidding Knicks in New York City
excruciating loss on the road, falls to lowly Knicks 108-95.
NEW YORK — At a time when they need to show their NBA credentials at the door for possible playoff entry, the Orlando Magic looked more like a woeful lottery team.
On Friday night at Madison Square Garden, the Magic were thoroughly beaten 108-95 by the New York Knicks — a team in their weight class.
Before the game, coach Scott Skiles said his club had to defeat teams with worse records if it planned to cash in on its slim chance to reach the postseason.
The Magic looked as if they had nothing to play for.
“It was kind of a go-throughthe-motions kind of game. We just didn’t have a lot of life,” Skiles said.
The Magic (25-32) fell to five games out of the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
It felt more like 10 after they left The Garden, wobbly, defenseless and in need of smelling salts like so many prizefighters who have fought at the storied arena.
The Magic were coming off a loss to Golden State on Thursday night in Orlando.
They had little spirit and no legs, appearing to give in to the back-to-back fatigue that capsizes most teams on this 82-game marathon trek.
And to think they were playing a Knicks team that
entered the night at 24-35, having lost 13 of its last 15 games.
“We didn’t bring it today,” forward Aaron Gordon said. “We got to continue to play regardless of the runs they go on. We got to continue to play. I don’t think we did that.”
The Magic’s defense was so porous they made the Knicks look like an offensive whirlwind. Skiles has been left searching for answers after a defensiveminded 19-13 start to the season.
“I don’t know. It’s so obvious. I believe we’re 6-19 since first of the year and we were a good defensive team before that,” said Skiles, adding the Magic are making miscues addressed in training camp. “We just kind of left the page.”
Nik Vucevic led Orlando with 18 points, followed by Gordon (17) and Victor Oladipo (16).
New York placed seven players in double figures, paced by Carmelo Anthony’s 19.
“It was one of those days, I guess. We couldn’t get anything going, especially defensively,” Oladipo said.
Orlando only showed some life in the third period, but it was a brief flurry.
Led by Oladipo’s three buckets, Orlando cut a 24-point lead to 15, forcing the Knicks to call a timeout.
The Magic were looking for any kind of spark — and it appeared one might have arrived late in the quarter.
Gordon was fouled on a drive by Langston Galloway and then clipped in the back of the head by Jose Calderon on the same play.
The referees reviewed the play and assessed Calderon with a flagrant foul.
Gordon hit three free throws thanks to both fouls and the Magic also received the ball.
Mario Hezonja scored on the ensuing possession and the five-point sequence trimmed the Magic deficit to 11 — a semblance of a lifeline on this kind of night.
The Magic couldn’t take advantage of the opening.
After Gordon drilled a 3-pointer, Anthony found 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis all alone underneath for an easy hoop with .2 seconds left in the third — a momentum-killer typical of Orlando’s defensive ineptness.
How a team loses track of a 7-3 guy is a question that will probably gnaw at Skiles for a while.
Unable to get stops in recent games against Indiana, Philadelphia and Golden State, the defense looked worse at times against the Knicks.
Orlando surrendered 62 points to trail by 18 at halftime as the Knicks shot 51 percent.
The Magic couldn’t defend without fouling.
New York shot 36 free throws, making 30.
The Magic didn’t look like a team on a playoff push.
They face the leagueworst Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday in Orlando. And it ’s obviously no gimme.