The New York Knicks look to make it five straight wins as they face the Orlando Magic Monday night in front of the home crowd at Madison Square Garden. This will be the second matchup of three this season. The Knicks lost the first matchup in Orlando last month, 100-91.
New York is coming off an impressive win against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night at the Garden, 107-91. The Knicks got off to a slow start trailing 12-2 early in the first quarter, leading head coach Derek Fisher to call a timeout telling his team to "wake up." The team responded in a big way, going on a 23-6 run and would not trail for the rest of the game. The team shot 50 percent from the field, pushed the pace a bit by scoring 20 fast break points, and got a boost from the bench who scored 39 points. Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks in scoring with 27 points on 12-of-20 shooting, while adding seven rebounds and three assists. Arron Afflalo also had a solid performance scoring 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while adding four rebounds and three assists.
For the Magic, they are coming off a heart breaking loss at home to the Atlanta Hawks, 103-100. Orlando led by four points after the first quarter but would trail at halftime by 10. They stormed back in the third quarter outscoring the Hawks by 11 and led by one heading into the fourth. Both teams battled throughout the final quarter and were tied at 100 with a minute left in the game. Kyle Korver hit a go ahead three-pointer with 43 seconds to go which ended up being the game winning three. Orlando had a chance to tie on the final possession but could not convert. Nikola Vucevic led the team in scoring with 20 points on 10-of-19 shooting, while adding 11 rebounds and four assists. Evan Fournier also added 17 points, four assists and three rebounds.
The Knicks are poised for a better outing against the Magic this time around. Over the course of their four-game winning streak, the ball movement and bench production have been superb. In the four games combined they have a total of 88 team assists and 175 bench points. They need to continue moving the ball and trust each other to make plays.
A key component in this game will be the focus the Magic put on Carmelo Anthony. After scoring 27 points on Saturday, Orlando will not hesitate to throw double teams and rotate multiple defenders on Melo. With that being said, this will free up the Knicks secondary options such as Arron Afflalo. He has been a solid complementary scorer to Carmelo and a major X-factor for the team by shooting 60 percent from the field over his last four games.
Another matchup to watch for is Robin Lopez against Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic is one of Orlando's best players, leading the team in both points and rebounds per game. He is a high percentage shooter that averages 51 percent shooting from the field. Lopez will really need to be sharp defensively as the Magic rely heavily on Vucevic's play. He also needs to keep Vucevic off of the glass being that he averages three offensive rebounds a game, which leads to second chance opportunities for Orlando.
Injuries: C.J. Watson did not play last night for Orlando due to a left calf injury. The Magic have not provided many updates but he is considered out indefinitely until Orlando says otherwise.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST.