The Orlando Magic will play host to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night just three days after defeating the Knicks 114-102.
The Knicks put a stop to a five-game losing streak as Mike D’Antoni blew his former team, the Phoenix Suns, 126-99. Danilo Gallinari had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Knicks.
Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm EST and the game will be shown by FSN. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
The Line: Orlando – 13.5
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jason Williams
New York
David Lee
Danilo Gallinari
Wilson Chandler
Larry Hughes
Chris Duhon
Last Meeting: These two teams met on Sunday with Orlando winning 114-102. The Magic took over a close game in the third quarter. Rashard Lewis scored 13 of his 26 points in the quarter and helped Orlando extend a two-point lead into a nine-point lead. Dwight Howard continued his recent resurgence, scoring 24 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Vince Carter struggled from the free throw line but still poured in 23 points.
Nate Robinson scored 24 points to lead the Knicks. 22 of those points game in the fourth quarter with the Magic holding a double-digit lead.
To see the full recap and analysis, click here.
Season Series: Orlando leads the series 1-0. To read about last year’s season series, click here.
About the Magic: The Magic are the hottest team in the NBA. They have won three games in a row and are 7-1 since Rashard Lewis returned.
Orlando received a much-needed rest after playing four games in five days with back-to-backs on Wednesday and Thursday and Saturday and Sunday. After a hectic Thanksgiving weekend, it must have been nice for the team to get home. The Magic should enjoy it while it lasts because they head out on a four game road trip this weekend.
Before the Magic defeated the Knicks, I talked about Vince Carter’s recent hike in scoring, Dwight Howard’s resurgence and Jason William’s efficient play at Point Guard.
Those three trends kept up Sunday. Dwight Howard scored 24 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 23 points, and Jason Williams had 8 assists while turning the ball over only once.
The big story for the Magic on Sunday was the play of Rashard Lewis. Lewis was really struggling with his shot but went 5-of-9 from downtown and 8-of-15 overall from the field on Sunday, scoring 26 points. This was the type of game Lewis needed to have to get out of his shooting funk.
I love how Orlando’s bench players seem to care about winning – and only winning. Matt Barnes, who had recently seen a diminished role, came off the bench and played more minutes than anyone else in the second unit (26). He had 8 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.
About the Knicks: The Knicks are coming off an excellent win. Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni led his team to a 27-point blowout over his former team, the Phoenix Suns.
As I noted, the Knicks are one of the least efficient teams in the entire NBA on both ends of the court, but they stepped their game on Tuesday.
They held the league’s best offense to just 45.5% shooting from the field – they usually shoot 50.7%. The Knicks held the Suns to 99 points, 12 less than their season average and limited Phoenix to just four 3-point field goals (on 17 points).
The Knicks, on the other hand, shot 49.5% from the field and knocked down 14 of their 31 3-pointers, giving them an excellent eFG% of 56.8%.
The Knicks had five players in double figures and three of them (Danilo Gallinari 27, David Lee 24 & Al Harrington 22) scored over 20 points.
On Sunday, I said that the key to the game would be Orlando’s energy level. It was surprisingly high for a team playing its fourth game and five nights and the Magic were able to come away with a win.
Unfortunately, the Magic really struggled with their pick-and-roll defense for the second consecutive night, but like Saturday night’s win in Milwaukee, the defense was better in the second half Sunday in New York. The Magic need to put together a complete defensive effort if they want to prevent the Knicks from keeping it close. The Knicks usually play very tight games with the Magic.
Orlando needs to continue to get Dwight Howard shots. He has had a lot more attempts in the last three games and has really helped the offense. When Howard is getting looks in the paint, the open looks from 3-point-land come.
Orlando really needs to get their act together at the free throw line. They had another poor night Sunday (17-of-31) and it wasn’t all on Dwight Howard.
I’d like to see Rashard Lewis stay aggressive and build on his 26-point night Sunday.
The Magic should dominate the boards like they did on Sunday.
(Andrew Melnick Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)