The Orlando Magic played their most complete overall game, withstanding poor offense by continuing to attack to take down the New York Knicks at home.
It did not seem to matter what stood in the Orlando Magic’s way Wednesday against the New York Knicks. Kristaps Porzingis could block as many shots as he wanted (he had six), the Magic were going to get to the basket. They were going to get to the foul line.
They were going to force their way to a win or die frustratingly trying.
With the lineup change announced earlier in the day, there was a certain fire about the team. It may not have completely translated and catalyzed until Victor Oladipo stepped on the court late in the first quarter.
Then it was everyone taking a turn stepping up when needed. It was Tobias Harris in the first quarter. It was Nikola Vucevic in the third quarter as the Knicks made a small push early on to cut into the lead.
It was then Oladipo again. The team captain who had faced the misfortune of a lineup shuffle to get sent to the bench. It was Oladipo who charged the Magic with his energy and aggression.
The Knicks never quite cut enough into the Magic’s lead after they built it up in the second quarter. Orlando found the defense and ability to turn New York away in a 100-91 win at Amway Center on Wednesday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 91 | 96.8 | 42.8 | 26.7 | 12.8 | 30.1 |
| Orlando | 100 | 107.4 | 42.4 | 30.0 | 8.6 | 37.2 |
Carmelo Anthony (NYK) — 28 pts., 13 rebs.; Jose Calderon (NYK) — 25 pts.
Victor Oladipo (ORL) — 24 pts.; Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 22 pts., 12 rebs.
After struggling all season to get to the foul line and produce offensively for his team, Oladipo provided the spark to win the game, scoring a team-high 24 points and making 13 of 15 free throws. He had attempted just 24 free throws this season entering the game.
“He was definitely in attack mode,” Scott Skiles said. “It seemed like we tried to serve them up a ton of blocks there for a while, but we stayed in attack mode, but you live with that. We sorely needed to get to the free throw line and he did a good job of that for us.”
The shotblocking never deterred the Magic. They took 39 field goal attempts in the paint and made just 16 but stuck with the gameplan to attack. The passing continued to get better as the team dished it quick to adjust to the shot blocker. They kept looking for that advantage.
So when the Knicks burned off seven straight points to start the second half and cut into an 11-point Magic lead.
In other situations, Orlando may have wilted some or given the game away. Instead, the Magic pushed back. Vucevic scored or assisted on the next nine points in the next two minutes to keep the lead at seven points.
The Knicks never took the lead as Vucevic scored 16 of his 22 points and grabbed seven of his 12 rebounds in the second half. There was always that backstop and that focus the team has lacked for much of the season so far.
“We really needed it,” Nikola Vucevic said. “A win was obviously great, but the way we playe dwas really good. We talked about it between the players that we needed to respond and play like we did earlier in the year. We did that tonight. On both ends of the floor, we were aggressive on the defensive end and took them away from their stuff. You could just tell everybody was enjoying playing, it was a fun night.”
The surprising part was the Magic’s offense did have its struggles. Orlando shot just 39.5 percent from the floor and still had many of their usual offensive struggles.
What was important in this game was how the Magic continued to stick to it defensively. They seemed dialed in early and contested shots and made things difficult for the Knicks. Even though Carmelo Anthony scored 28 points and kept the pace relatively slow in the first half, New York never strung together too many baskets in a row.
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There were moments when the team did look like it would crumble. In a late third quarter timeout, Skiles railed into the team and left them to their own thinking for the majority of the break. The Magic responded by retaking the lead and scored five straight points to bring the lead back to nine.
The Knicks never seriously threatened the lead again.
“I think our defense was amazing today,” Oladipo said. “I think we set a tone defensively that kind of helped everything else. And getting to the line was a little helpful as well.”
Getting to the foul line helped. Oladipo had 15 free throw attempts and Tobias Harris had eight free throw attempts. Both players were aggressive attacking the basket and the Magic kept drawing fouls.
One game does not equal consistency by any stretch. It was hard to make any conclusions or evaluations about the Magic’s new lineups and rotations.
The starters largely held things even in the first half and then gave up a run in the second half before recovering. Oladipo’s play clearly sparked the Magic’s run into the lead in the second quarter and their play to maintain their lead through the fourth quarter.
New York got no closer than six points in the fourth quarter and Orlando extended the lead back out with a 5-0 run — on four Oladipo three Oladipo free throws — to put the game back at a comfortable margin.
This, finally, was the kind of win where the Magic simply took care of business.
“It was a great team win,” Skiles said. “Everyone who got on the floor did something positive. Defense was very good for most of the game. Tough team to guard. We were pretty locked in and overall did a nice job.”
Do this again, and the Magic may have finally finished searching for their necessary mindset and rotation.