Cursed Knicks Drop 3rd in a Row, Hexed by Magic
The month of March is defined by basketball upsets. Alas for the New York Knicks, they fell victim to one on Thursday night.
Facing an Orlando Magic group on the cusp of basketball oblivion, the Knicks were doomed to their third consecutive defeat, dropping a 111-106 decision at Amway Arena. The loss came despite matching 25-point efforts from Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley, the latter of whom was a late addition to the starting lineup in the wake of Jalen Brunson's hand injury.
Top overall pick Paolo Banchero led the way for the Magic, scoring 21 points in the win to pace the hosts.
It was another sloppy affair for the Knicks (42-33) in Orlando, as they dropped both legs of a speedy Floridian road trip after another heartbreaking loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. The loss narrowed the Knicks' advantage over the sixth-place Heat, who are idle until Friday, to a mere 1.5 games with one more meeting slated for Wednesday night. It's also their third defeat in a row the sixth in their past nine. Having fallen to Cleveland on Thursday, the Brooklyn Nets now hold seventh place and the first spot in the Play-In Tournament, two games behind the Knicks.
Unlike the prior two losses, the dubious streak beginning on Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Knicks' defense came to play: though they held a consistent lead, the Magic shot only 41 percent in the first half as they built a lead that reached as a high as 19. Primarily kept afloat by Grimes' work from deep (13 points built primarily by a 3-of-5 output from outside), the Knicks' 18-7 run at the end of the half was marred by a Julius Randle technical foul and verbal civil war with Quickley after the former was frustrated over a lack of a foul call.
It was the culmination of a brutal first half for Randle, who continues to struggle after his historic effort on Monday: the first 24 minutes saw him shoot 3-of-12 from the field, including four misses from three-point range.
Potential embarrassment and questions about Randle's attitude notwithstanding, his tirade at the end of the frame seemed to spark the Knicks: the third quarter saw them outscore Orlando 30-22 (holding the Magic to 37 percent from the field), most of that built on a 23-4 run at the end. But even though Quickley free throws set up a tie in the fourth quarter, the Knicks were done in by a 13-5 Orlando run over the first four-plus minutes, one kickstarted by triples for Cole Anthony and Caleb Houstan.
It was a run that forced them to play catch-up, a mini-game they never fully recovered from: with that outbreak creating an eight-point lead, the Knicks got as close as two the rest of the way but never re-tied or went ahead. New York was thus denied its first season sweep of the Magic (31-43) since the oft-cited 2012-13 campaign. They also fell to an even 5-5 in the 10 games without Brunson.
Thursday's game proved historic on both sides: the Magic inducted Dennis Scott (himself a former Knick) into the team hall of fame while Mitchell Robinson moved past Bill Cartwright and Marvin Webster for second place on the Knicks' all-time blocks list at 546, though he has plenty of work to do to become the leader (Patrick Ewing at 2,758). Robinson also had 12 rebounds in defeat.
The Knicks will have three days to process this brutal turn of events before another trap game looms on Monday night: the long-eliminated Houston Rockets will come to MSG for a visit (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG) as the Knicks try to find some semblance of stability before the postseason arrives.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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