Amar’e Stoudemire and Wilson Chandler led the game in scoring with 30 points and 29 points respectively, but the Dwight Howard-led Magic maintained their lead from the second quarter on. Solid double-digit bench scoring from J.J. Redick, Gilbert Arenas, and Ryan Anderson was key to Orlando’s win.
The Magic were riding a four-game win streak coming into Thursday night’s game, including important wins against the NBA’s top teams in the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics last week.
The Knicks have had a tougher time against top teams, losing to the Celtics on Dec. 15 and the Miami Heat twice after that, including a difficult 106–98 loss on Tuesday.
New York got the game off to a good start, leading by as much as 10 points early in the first quarter before Orlando picked up their offensive tempo and went on a 17–2 run to even up the score.
Stoudemire did a good job early on limiting Howard’s effectiveness in the paint, and Howard’s frustration showed when he quickly picked up his 12th technical foul of the season. Four more, and “Superman” will have to sit out a game under the NBA’s 16 technical foul limit rule.
But Stoudemire picked up a technical foul of his own—his 10th of the season—early in the second quarter after complaining about a foul, and then quickly got his third foul to force coach Mike D’Antoni to put him on the bench.
Orlando kept its first quarter momentum going and got its 3-point shooting together in the second quarter to charge ahead by as much as 20 points and ended the half ahead 62–44. Redick and Anderson contributed well from the bench in the second quarter.
The Knicks came out strong in the second half and opened with a well-executed play to Stoudemire for a powerful dunk.
That energy was a sign of things to come. The Knicks played with greater intensity with Chandler, Stoudemire, and Felton all contributing big in third quarter scoring. The Knicks chipped away at Orlando’s lead, pulling to within seven points eight minutes into the quarter, and finished the quarter down 82–71.
Much of the fourth quarter was a battle with the Knicks pulling to within two points with Stoudemire staying in the game despite picking up his fifth personal foul.
But in the final minutes Orlando pulled ahead with Howard taking control of the game, finishing with 24 points and 18 rebounds.
The Knicks will start the New Year off at home against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
