Knicks' Thrilling Win over Magic Pushes Winning Streak to 3 Games
NEW YORK — The Knicks are on a winning streak. I repeat, the Knicks are on a winning streak.
After a thrilling win vs the Orlando Magic, in front of an electric Garden crowd, the New York squad has won three in a row.
On a day that saw Marcus Morris get traded to the Clippers, Mike Miller said “it’s next man up” during his pregame press conference. After tonight’s game, there are multiple players you can point to and say, “hey they stepped up”. Whether it was Julius Randle scoring 22 points while going 10/16 from the field, Elfird Payton getting 7 steals, Dennis Smith Jr.’s motor, or Wayne Ellington coming off the bench hitting a handful of clutch 3’s to keep the Knicks in the game, multiple players had big roles in this Knicks win.
After going up by double digits early in the game, the Knicks found themselves down by 10 in the fourth quarter. Thanks to three 3 pointers by Wayne Ellington in under two minutes the Knicks were right back in the game, only down by three with 7:21 left in the game.
“The shots that Wayne was hitting it energized the rest of the group and then you saw plays on both sides. I think that was huge,” interim head coach Mike Miller said of Ellington’s outstanding performance from downtown in the fourth quarter.
It was clear Ellington’s shot didn’t just energize the players but also the Garden crowd. At one point it felt as if the Chase Bridge was shaking late in the fourth. The Knicks definitely fed off the building’s electricity. Defensively, the intensity was high late in the game, they were swarming to the ball and almost suffocating the Magic offense.
A big part of tonight’s defensive effort was Elfrid Payton. Payton had active hands throughout the night, he ended the game with seven steals. It wasn’t just a great defensive performance from him tonight, offensively he filled the stat sheet as well with 15 points and 9 assists. “He was everywhere. You know what he does offensively setting up everybody, getting to the basket and making the right plays. Defensively he was great as well. Got his hands on a lot of balls. Very active on that end. Made it tough for them,” Julius Randle said of his teammate postgame.
Rookie RJ Barrett returned to the court tonight, after a nine-game absence due to an ankle injury. He came off the bench and played for 18 minutes putting up 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. When asked about how his first game back felt the rookie responded, “Sore, but fighting through it. It was great to be back out there with my teammates.”
Barrett continued, “I just had a lot of fun out there…I was happy to be back out there. Our mantra for this week is, fun, have fun with it and that’s what I did. My teammates were great, and we got a good win.”
The NBA Trade Deadline has passed, the rumors about possible trades are done. These guys are not going to be traded, this is their team, these are their teammates. “Have fun with it,” as Barrett said.
It seems to be working.
