The Knicks had it all, Anthony and Billups and a win over the Miami Heat. What else could they be looking for? Whatever it was, Howard, Nelson, Clark, Anderson, Richardson and Duhon all put a stop to it Tuesday night, beating the Knicks 116-110.
The Orlando Magic’s road to the playoff has not always been flawless. Struggling defensively and relying mostly on Dwight Howard to raise the morale and the scoreboard, the Magic finally brought their “B” game Tuesday night. Yes, the “B” game.
The Magic got a 44-point effort from the bench. Ryan Anderson scored 16 points and four 3-pointers, Quentin Richardson 10 points and five rebounds and Chris Duhon helped with five assists. That’s not to say everyone else didn’t come out to play. Howard closed the game with 30 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks.
First quarter was head to head for the first few minutes after tip-off. The Magic started off with Howard picking up his first foul in the first two minutes. JJ Redick broke the pattern with 5 minutes left on a layup that gave the Magic its first lead of the game. They held off the team of Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire and closed the quarter 21-32. Howard scored in the double digits with 17 points and the Magic was shooting 78% from the line compared to 37% delivered by the Knicks.
It was then that the tides turned. New York came out strong in the second quarter and ended the 11-point deficit in less than 6 minutes. Chancey Billups picked up a technical for the Knicks while Turkoglu picked up two in less than 40 seconds getting ejected from the court. The back and forth tension helped the Knicks close the half 58-47.
If an 11-point deficit wasn’t enough, the third quarter left much to be desired. Anthony and Billups paired up to lead the Magic on a game of playing catch up, but that’s all there was. It wasn’t until the fourth that the Magic used their smallest asset to win a big game.
Jammer Nelson, who only scored 3 points in the first half came out guns blazing. For the last 6 minutes of the game it was non-stop hard work. He drew a foul that led him to add two points to the scoreboard, and then there was 2, followed by 3, followed by another 2. All in one minute. At the end, Nelson finished the game with 26 points and a tap on the shoulder from his teammates.
“It does build confidence when you come back in a game like we did, after an absolutely miserable second quarter, maybe our worst quarter of the year,” Van Gundy said. “We bounced back and played a good second half, I think that gives you some confidence, so that was good.”
The Magic will take their newfound confidence all the way to South Florida where they take on the Miami Heat Thursday night.
Here are last night’s top players…
| New York | Orlando | |
| Points | A. Stoudemire 30 | D. Howard 30 |
| Rebounds | L. Fields 11 | D. Howard 16 |
| Assists | C. Billups 6 | C. Duhon 5 |
| Steals | C. Billups 3 | J. Richardson 2 |
| Blocks | S. Williams 1 | D. Howard 5 |
By Fernanda Barros
