Grades: New York Knicks 113, Orlando Magic 106
The Orlando Magic will not grade well after a loss to the hapless Knicks. New York out-efforted and outplayed Orlando for a win at the Garden.
The Orlando Magic continued their confusing and frustrating stretch of play, pouring in points behind a career night from Nikola Vucevic and then giving up even more points on the defensive end.
Doing that to the Knicks, one of the three worst offensive teams by offensive rating in the league, had to be disheartening. Incredibly disheartening.
And the frustration was palpable from the usually upbeat Jacque Vaughn. This team needs to figure itself out defensively if it wants to reverse this funk. It can only come on the defensive end.
Until then, the Magic are going to see some failing grades and continue to see some losing.
B+. <p>If anyone was close to earning a passing grade in this game, it is Nikola Vucevic. He was the main cog offensively, almost to a detriment, in scoring 34 points. He did a good job following <strong><a href=. C. Orlando Magic. NIKOLA VUCEVIC
<p>Victor Oladipo has played extremely well of late and saw that good string of games tail off the last two. He was struggling with his jumper in the first half and had some issues actually shaking <strong><a href=. SG. Orlando Magic. VICTOR OLADIPO. C
<p><strong><a href=. SF. Orlando Magic. TOBIAS HARRIS. C-
C-. <p><strong><a href=. PF. Orlando Magic. CHANNING FRYE
B. <p>Once again, Elfrid Payton was very very good. Like, really good. He dished out 11 assists and scored nine points. He seemed capable of getting into the lane at will and finding whoever was open — mostly Vucevic.</p><p>It is hard to imagine this team without him at this point with the way he drives this team. Jacque Vaughn even admitted after the game that he feels kind of guilty for putting so much on his plate. But he has to in order to win. Payton is that important.</p><p>Payton was going hard to the end of the game and he bumped knees late and needed help leaving the court. He tweeted after the game that he is fine. We will see whether he plays Sunday. If he does not, the Magic might be in serious trouble.</p>. PG. Orlando Magic. ELFRID PAYTON
NEW YORK KNICKS. A. <p>When you have only seven wins and the worst record in the league, to get a win is always a good thing. When you have the offense like the Knicks scoring 100-plus points is a good thing. But this Knicks team played better than that. They wanted the game more and their players stepped up for it.</p><p>The two players on 10-day contracts — <strong><a href=. .