The New York Knicks could not find a way to stop the bleeding Wednesday night. They fell to the Orlando Magic at the Madison Square Garden in a close game, ending in a J.R. Smith air ball at the buzzer. Orlando improves to 3-6, and the Knicks drop their sixth consecutive game and fall to 2-7 on the season. The Knicks are also 1-4 at home with the loss tonight.
This is not what Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher had in mind when they came together here in New York. Phil was recently quoted that the Knicks will soon find out, possibly by mid-November or early-December, who is a "learner" and who is not. So this team and its players will be constantly on the hot seat by the man in charge if they do not turn things around soon because the season could be slowly spiraling out of control.
Carmelo Anthony had a much better game, going 10-for-17 with 27 points and was a plus-seven in his 32 minutes on the floor, but was in foul trouble for much of the second half. J.R. Smith came off the bench to score 19 points and was a big help while Carmelo was on the bench in foul trouble.
Orlando's Tobias Harris, a New York native, was in front of his family and friends at MSG. He had 12 points in 33 minutes. Evan Fournier had a career-high 28 points and was very aggressive getting to the costless throw line, shooting 14 times while making 10. Nikola Vucevic had a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
The Knicks will try to end their losing streak Friday night at home against the Utah Jazz. The Magic will host the Milwaukee Bucks in their next game on Friday.