Knicks at Magic
The New York Knicks are letting their games come down to the final shot lately and split a pair of one-point games during a two-game homestand. The Knicks will try to put it away a little earlier when they visit the Orlando Magic on Wednesday for the beginning of a stretch with six of seven on the road.
Carmelo Anthony buried a jumper with 0.3 seconds left in Saturday's 110-109 triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers but could not knock down an open 3-pointer at the buzzer on Monday as the Knicks dropped a 92-91 decision to the Toronto Raptors. The loss was the seventh in the last nine games for the Knicks, who waived backup point guard Brandon Jennings on Monday but insisted the move was not indicative of the team giving up on the season and tanking for better draft position. The Magic are in a similar situation and sit two games behind the Knicks in the standings - 14th in the Eastern Conference - despite bouncing back from two losses with an impressive 105-86 win over Atlanta on Saturday. "We had a lot of speed and fast-break points, and for the first time in a while it felt like everybody had fun out there on the court," swingman Evan Fournier told reporters. "When you play small-ball like that, you are faster defensively, you get more steals and it gives you more opportunities to run and get more easy buckets. Again, it was fun watching us play like that."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG (New York, FSN Florida
ABOUT THE KNICKS (24-36): Anthony has no interest in tanking to try to earn New York a better draft position and was upset with himself for missing the final jumper on Monday. "I wasn’t expecting to get a look like that," Anthony told reporters. "It happened. I missed it. There’s not so much you can say about that. It was all about the shot. I had a wide-open shot. I made a tougher shot the other day. I should have made that shot." Anthony is still playing heavy minutes - an average of 38.7 in three games since the All-Star break - while waiting for Kristaps Porzingis, who missed the last two games with an ankle injury and is day-to-day, to return and take over some of the scoring burden.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (22-38): Orlando signaled its intention to play small by trading away power forward Serge Ibaka for athletic wing Terrence Ross before the All-Star break and finally got a chance to see how explosive it could be in the win over Atlanta. "That’s the style of play that we’re going to implement now with the change in our roster," Magic coach Frank Vogel told reporters. "With ball-handling (power forwards) and a spread attack with Aaron (Gordon) and Jeff (Green) at the (power forward) spot, and we’re going to be pushing the tempo and trying to be more active defensively to create turnovers and get us out on the break. I was proud of how it looked (on Saturday)." Ross, who is starting for Orlando after coming off the bench in Toronto, scored a team-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting in the win.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Fournier is 12-of-38 from the floor, including 3-of 15 from 3-point range, in the last three games.
2. Knicks C Joakim Noah underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Monday and could miss the rest of the season.
3. The teams split a pair of meetings earlier in the season, with Orlando earning a 115-103 win in the most recent matchup - at New York on Jan. 2.