Meet the Opponent: Redemption the Theme as Knicks, Magic Play a Third Time

ORLANDO, Fla. — After Thursday night's last-second loss to Miami, which was made possible by the Orlando Magic's poor shooting and 23 turnovers, rookie Tristan da Silva carried his usual poise.

Is there a challenge to maintaining confidence when shots aren't falling? "No. I don't think so," da Silva said. "I mean, if you look at the game, we still had a chance to win it [in] the end.

"I feel like we can just learn from this one [and] move on to the next one. I know it's a quick turnaround anyway. We have to make sure that we learn from that, you know, otherwise this game will not bring any value to us. If we learn from this and do the adjustments that we need to do and move on, then we'll be fine."

That chance comes Friday, fewer than 24 hours after the Magic (19-13) were on the wrong side of a game-winning basket. They entertain the New York Knicks (20-10) — the third time this December the two teams will tip it up.

The Knicks, riding the high of a thrilling Christmas Day victory over Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, have All-NBA firepower. The Magic remain shorthanded yet cohesive in their efforts to punch above their weight.

The Knicks own a 2-0 season series lead — a nationally televised rout in New York, then a competitive game 12 days ago in Orlando.

For Orlando, the evening's theme is redemption.

About the Knicks

Leading Scorers

Karl-Anthony Towns: 24.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 53.8 FG%, 44.7 3PT%
Jalen Brunson: 24.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 7.6 assists, 48.0 FG%, 42.2 3PT%
Mikal Bridges: 18.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 50.2 FG%, 37.1 3PT%
OG Anunoby: 16.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 47.9 FG%, 35.7 3PT%
Josh Hart: 13.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 58.3 FG%, 39.8 3PT%
Miles McBride: 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 43.5 FG%, 41.1 3PT%

Head Coach

Tom Thibodeau, New York Knicks: In his fifth season as head coach, Thibodeau has led New York to the playoffs in three of five seasons.

Injury News

Mitchell Robinson: OUT (left ankle surgery) – Robinson has yet to suit up for the Knicks this season. Otherwise, New York enters Friday's contest at full health.

Notable Numbers

117.3 points/game (7th)
39.6 3PT% (2nd)
+7.5 net rating (5th overall: 2nd offense, 14th defense)
.229 FTA rate (26th)
13.5 TOV% (5th)
97.62 possessions/game (27th pace)

Keys to the Game

Hold onto the ball ... and convert on the offensive end

The Magic and Knicks are two of the NBA's slowest operating teams

Orlando plays at the league's fifth-slowest pace. Not to be outdone, New York plays at the fourth-slowest.

Opportunities to score correlate directly with the number of possessions an offense sees any given night. Orlando stresses the importance of the possession battle — a game within the game emphasizing the need to be careful with the ball. After committing 23 turnovers in the Heat loss, the Magic learned a harsh lesson Thursday night about what can happen when you mishandle the basketball.

"We talked about it before (Thursday's) game – if we take care of the ball versus this team (Miami), get good looks, [you] give yourself an opportunity," Mosley said. "When you turn it over and then shoot 17 percent from the three-point line, you're not giving yourself many chances."

For a poor shooting Magic offense, it's greatest weapon is its defense. Runouts and live-ball turnovers are the lifeblood of Orlando's attack. But when surrendering those same opportunities to opponents, it leaves a tall hill for the NBA's 25th-ranked offense to climb.

New York is among the league's best teams at protecting the ball. They also own the second-most potent offense this year. They play slow, but it results in good shots and more than enough makes to account for the chances at extra possessions lost.

Orlando's offense, especially sans three of its four leading scorers, doesn't have the same luxury. It deals with turnovers itself (23rd TOV%) on top of the nightly struggles to score.

The last thing it can do is afford to give away chances when an opponent knows they can capitalize.

Run the Knicks off the 3-point line

Earlier this week, Orlando's defense made the Boston Celtics look unrecognizable.

By shot volume, they are on pace to shatter the record for average three-point attempts per game by more than five attempts (currently 50.4; previous high is 45.4 by Houston in 2018-19.) But the Magic defense held the Celtics to 32 attempts and eight makes from distance — each season lows for the defending champs.

Where the Celtics and Knicks differ is in the efficiency of their attempts. New York is 20th in attempts, but second in three-point shooting percentage.

The question is, can the Magic neutralize the Knicks' long-range shooting?

It hasn't happened in the first two games this season. On Dec. 3, New York shot 15-of-35 from beyond the arc in a game that was over midway through the third quarter. Orlando sliced a third off of New York's total attempts in the Dec. 15 meeting, but the Knicks still shot 10-of-24 and made some timely shots late to protect their lead.

After Miami's 15 made threes on Thursday, Mosley said his defense didn't do the job.

A repeat performance Friday could spell a repeat outcome.

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