Knicks fall to Magic, 114-102
Photo credit: Getty Images | Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic grabs a rebound over David Lee of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. (Nov. 29, 2009)
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Nov. 29: Magic 114, Knicks 102
The Knicks played another decent game against another decent team and once again came up short Sunday night.
This time, however, it appears that there is some division on the team when it comes to deciding how to view this string of moral victories.
After the 114-102 loss to the Magic, David Lee said he thinks the team can hold its head up. Several other players mentioned how much better the Knicks have been playing recently, even though the loss was their fifth in a row.
Al Harrington, however, said he was in no mood for celebrating. "Every loss ought to hurt at this point," he said. "We have a record that we're very ashamed of. Everything hurts right now."
The Knicks (3-14) have the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference, better than only the Nets, who fired coach Lawrence Frank Sunday and then fell to 0-17 by losing to the Lakers.
In their last five games, the Knicks have had some respectable showings against Orlando, Denver and Boston - all of which are expected to go deep into the postseason.
The next week will bring them three more tough opponents; they host Phoenix Tuesday before playing at Orlando on Wednesday and at Atlanta on Friday. That means the Knicks could be 3-17 by the time they face the likely-to-be-still-winless Nets on Sunday.
Orlando (14-4) is the type of team the Knicks might be if Eddy Curry were better and healthier and his teammates hit a higher percentage of their three-point shots.
As it is, Curry missed his third straight game with a sore knee, which meant the Knicks had absolutely no answer for Orlando's Dwight Howard, who finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
Things got so bad during one stretch in the third quarter that one almost got the feeling that Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni wanted to run down and sign Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing to a 10-day contract.
Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 26 points, including a three-pointer that tied it at 57 early in the third. That kicked off a 14-4 run during which he added another three as Orlando opened a 68-61 lead.
Lewis then followed Danilo Gallinari's free throw with another three, and the Magic led by as much as 11 in the period before settling for an 82-73 advantage on Mickael Pietrus' basket at the buzzer.
Vince Carter had 23 points for the Magic. Lee had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Gallinari (15 points) shot 4-for-5 from three-point range for the Knicks, who never got closer than seven points in the fourth quarter despite a lights-out performance by Nate Robinson, who scored 22 of his 24 points in the quarter.
"As long as we keep getting better, I think we've improved," Robinson said. "We haven't got the Ws to show for it, but as a team we feel confident and we feel good."
Well, not everyone on the team felt good. Harrington, who had 41 points and 10 rebounds against Denver Friday, scored only nine points against the Magic after getting into foul trouble. He not only said he needs to play better but that the team must find a way to clamp down defensively when necessary.
Said Harrington: "We've got to get stops. In the fourth quarter, we were just going back and forth like a see-saw. Somehow we have to dig our heels in and say enough is enough."
