New York Knicks @ Orlando Magic

The Orlando Magic will look to win their third straight game when they host the new-look New York Knicks Tuesday night.

The Magic followed up their big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder Friday night with a business-like performance in a victory over the Charlotte Bobcats Tuesday night. They are now 38-22, good for fourth in the East. The Magic are just 3.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the third seed, but are five back in the loss column.

After losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night, the Knicks rallied from a 15-point deficit in Miami Sunday night to defeat the Heat 91-86. They are now 2-1 since acquiring Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups and 30-27 overall. They’re currently seeded sixth, five games behind the Atlanta Hawks.

These two teams met in Orlando on December 30. Dwight Howard led the Magic to a 112-103 victory behind 24 points and 18 rebounds. Seven Magic players scored in double figures. Amar’e Stoudemire led the Knicks with 30 points.

The Knicks rank second in pace (96.3), ninth in offensive rating (109.6) and 19th in defensive rating (109.1)

The game will be shown locally on Sun Sports and nationally on NBA TV. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can listen on the radio – in English on AM 580 WDBO and in Spanish on AM 1270 WRLZ.

Tip off from the the Amway Center is scheduled for 7:00 pm EST.

The Line: Orlando – 7.0, 213u

Starters:

New York Knicks

Amar’e Stoudemire
Shawne Williams
Carmelo Anthony
Landry Fields
Chauncey Billups

Orlando Magic

Dwight Howard
Brandon Bass
Hedo Tukoglu
Jason Richardson
Jameer Nelson

The Knicks will be without Kelenna Azubuike, who is out indefinitely after having left knee surgery. Carmelo Anthony is banged up with a sore right elbow but has played in every game for the Knicks so far.

The officials will be Jason Phillips, Curtis Blair and David Jones.

Opponent To Watch: Chauncey Billups, G -Magic fans don’t need to be told how good Chauncey Billups is. As a Piston, he terrorized the Magic and continued to play well against them in Denver with the Nuggets.

After Orlando’s victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy weighed in on Billups.

“It’s sort of funny to me when they talk about the trade. It’s always “the Melo deal, the Melo deal,” like Chauncey Billups is some inconsequential player, like he was a throw in in the deal” Van Gundy explained. “My god, the guy’s one of the most successful point guards we’ve had in the league in a decade. He’s still playing at an extremely high level.”

“I was sort of laughing when people said the Knicks gave up too much,” Van Gundy said.

What To Watch For: Both of these teams would like to push the pace and the Knicks have become one of the most dangerous offensive teams in the league. However, defense is where the Magic should have a big advantage. Despite struggling on the defensive end at times, Orlando should have a much better team on that end of the court than the Knicks. After slowing down the Lakers and Thunder but allowing the Kings to score 111 points, it will be interesting to see which Magic defense shows up. If it’s the one that played against Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, the Magic should come away with their 39th victory.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080’s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).