November 26, 2016, Queens, NY The New York Knicks finished their four-game road trip with a record of 2-2 after losing to the Orlando Magic last night, 100-91. The loss dropped the Knicks to 8-8, and the Magic improved to 7-8.
Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 28 points to go with 13 rebounds and 3 assists. Anthony is having one of his best seasons but with his being 31 years old and coming off of surgery, can he sustain this high level of play? Last night he didn’t have much help in the scoring department with the exception of Jose Calderon who scored 25 points making 8 of 14 field goal attempts. NBA Rookie of the Year candidate, Kristaps Porzingis, scored 8 points on 3 for 13 shooting. Robin Lopez grabbed 12 rebounds to go with 8 points, but Arron Afflalo’s scoring output was down. He scored only 10 points on 4/11 shooting. The Knicks got very little scoring from their bench who combined for all of 12 points.
For the Magic, the bulk of their scoring came from Victor Oladipo who scored 24 points off the bench; however, he shot 5/15 which is 33%. Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris scored 22 and 17 points respectively. The pair also combined for 22 rebounds (12 for Vucevic and 10 for Harris).
Generally, when you hold an NBA team to under 40% shooting from the field, it translates into victory. However, the Magic field goal percentage (39.5%) was two percentage points higher than the Knicks (37.3%). The Magic had a slight rebounding edge (48-47) and dished out four more assists (20-16).
The Knicks come home to Madison Square Garden to face the Miami Heat on Friday (game time is set for 7:30 p.m. EST). The Knicks lost to the Heat on this four-game road trip and will be looking to avenge it. Tickets are still available. The game will be televised by MSG. Check you local listings.
Professor Clifford Benton can be reached at @cliffordbenton.