Friday night the New York Knicks blew out the Orlando Magic 108-95, holding a 20 point lead for most of the game.
Although, this was not a wire to wire win as New York did not come out of the gate strongly. The Knicks were slow to start, and could not buy a basket early on, other than the 34 years-old point guard Jose Calderon that is. The Spaniard scored the Knicks’ first-six points of the game, and scored ten of his total 14 points in the first quarter.
.@JmCalderon3 on 🔥 @TheGarden w/ 10 of the #Knicks 19 points. NYK leads ORL by 4 in the 1Q. #NYKvsORL pic.twitter.com/LbAEHrO6FO
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 27, 2016
It took a while to get the engine started but eventually the rest of the Knicks joined in on the action. New York finished the opening period strongly, going on a 13-3 run to lead by a dozen but then Knicks-killer Brandon Jennings spoiled the fun with a buzzer-beater…
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New York scored 32 points in the first quarter, and another 30 points in the second. The Knicks were really thriving on offense off of the Magic’s turnovers. Orlando was sloppy with the ball, turning the ball over nine times in the first half. Which is not something the Knicks are accustomed to… New York is DEAD LAST at forcing opponents turnovers per game, as per NBA.com.
Derrick Williams; the one man fastbreak, really took advantage of all the turnovers. Williams biggest strength is his athleticism, and it was on full display Friday night on the fast break. D-Will scored nine of his 11 points in the second quarter.
The Knicks would lead by as many as 24 points as New York went on a 8-0 run coming out of halftime, with Robin Lopez leading the way with six straight points. Robin scored eight of his total 14 points in the third quarter.
.@rolopez42 w/ 8 of his 12 points in the 3Q! #Knicks lead ORL 72-57 w/ 6:16 left in the period. #NYKvsORL pic.twitter.com/ak9A6z7XYB
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) February 27, 2016
The tide changed though, late in the third quarter when Calderon intentionally fouled Aaron Gordon to stop an easy dunk, but was ruled to be a flagrant type one foul upon official review… In my opinion it was just a common foul… but it led to Gordon making two-of-three free-throws, missing his final one, which led to a Mario Hezonja jumper off an offensive rebound. That five point swing got Orlando within 11 points; 75-64.
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The Knicks would respond with the Magic slowly erasing the lead, in particular rookie Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis beat the third quarter buzzer with a dunk, and then proceeded to score eight out of the first-11 Knicks points in the final period! The 7’3″ Latvian scored six straight points, highlighted by a beautiful hook-shot that gave the Knicks a 93-73 lead with 8:56 remaining in the game. Porzingis scored eight of his total 18 points in crunch-time!
New York went on to win easily, 108-93. Orlando turned the ball over only three more times in the second half but it was too late, the damage was already done.
The Magic also shot themselves in the foot in the first half by launching too many quick three-pointers. Especially with the personnel they have, the Magic should not be launching threes all willy-nilly. Orlando was 1/11 from beyond the arc in the first half, and finished the game shooting just 22.2% from downtown.
New York dared the Magic guards to shoot three-pointers, going under virtually every screen. With Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton below average three-point shooters, and Jennings being an erratic shooter, the strategy worked to perfection Friday night.
The Knicks played incredibly well, having a balanced attack against the Magic. Seven Knicks scored in double-figures! One thing to nitpick was that Anthony again struggled from the field. Melo scored a team-high 19 points but needed 22 attempts to do so…
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All in all, it was a great win. Hopefully, the Knicks can keep up the good vibes on Sunday night against the Miami Heat.