ORLANDO -- The Orlando Magic made strides on both ends of the floor against the NBA’s newest super team on Saturday.
Now, the Magic (6-7) will look to build on that performance and snap a five-game losing streak when they visit the New York Knicks (6-8) on Monday at 12 p.m. ET.
Magic Head Coach Steve Clifford felt that the team played with an offensive identity for the first time since point guard Markelle Fultz suffered a season-ending ACL injury.
“We have to understand the level of intensity that we have to play at in order to play and have a chance to win games,” Clifford said. “We took a step towards that (against Brooklyn).”
Despite their recent rough stretch, Orlando is still heavily in the mix in the Eastern Conference. Courtesy of their strong start to the season, the Magic possess the sixth-best record in the conference and are just one win away from being back to a .500 club.
“The good thing for us is that we had a really good start,” Magic super sixth man Terrence Ross explained. “We’re not two-and-seven, we’re not three-and-seven, we’re right there. We’re almost five-hundred, and we really got to figure out how to maintain and take that next step. We have guys missing, but that can’t be the reason why we don’t grow. We’ll be fine. We just got to play through it, play tough, keep that same mindset and intensity that we had (against the Nets) and things will start to turn (around).”
A key factor in that will be the improvement of rookie point guard Cole Anthony. Handed the reins to the starting point guard position in Fultz’s absence, the University of North Carolina alum played what the Magic’s head coach called perhaps his best game of the season on Saturday. Anthony notched 16 points, eight assists, three rebounds and three steals as the New York native returned home to play for the first time since being drafted by Orlando.
He’ll have even more pressure on his plate on Monday as he will step on the Madison Square Garden floor for the first time as an NBA player against the team his father, Greg Anthony, suited up for from 1991-95.
“As a kid growing up in New York, it’s exciting to be able to go back and play,” Anthony explained. “Pretty much where (I) was raised at the biggest arena possible and the biggest stage possible, so I’m excited for that.”
QUOTE TO NOTE: “He handles it well. He’s a very focused guy. He’s a very committed player and I think he learns things every time we play. He’s taken good advantage of this opportunity.” – Clifford on Anthony handling the pressure of returning home to New York.
INJURY UPDATE: Al-Farouq Aminu (right knee rehabilitation), Michael Carter-Williams (sprained left foot), Evan Fournier (back spasms), Fultz (torn ACL, left knee), Chuma Okeke (left knee bone bruise) and Jonathan Isaac (left knee rehabilitation) are all out. Mo Bamba (non-team contact tracing) did not travel with the team and will not play against the Knicks.
For the Knicks, Mitchell Robinson (sore right knee) is questionable, Alec Burks (sprained left ankle) is doubtful, and Frank Ntilikina (sprained right knee) is out.
KEY STAT: Magic center Nikola Vucevic continues to make the case that he belongs in the conversation as the most well-rounded center in the association. Against the Nets, Vucevic knocked down six 3-pointers and scored a season-high 34 points to go along with 10 rebounds, seven assists and five steals. In the process, he became the first center in NBA history to put up 30-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus steals with five-plus threes in a game (according to StatMuse).
RIVALS REPORT: In this edition of our Rivals Report series, I brought in special guest, Ben Couch, Director of Editorial Content for NBA Digital. Prior to re-joining the league – our times at the league office overlapped from 2006-08 – he had stints working for and covering both the Knicks and Nets. He was courteous enough to take the time to answer a few questions prior to the matchup.
Savage: “When you look at the Knicks this year – you’ve been in that organization – what do you see as some of the strengths and weakness of the team so far this season?"
Couch: “The biggest difference this year, and this comes with (head coach) Tom Thibodeau, they have an identity. It feels that way for the first time in a while. Because Thibodeau has history there as an assistant and all the CAA connections to the new management, it feels like he had the juice to come in and take the reins like it’s his team. From the jump, they were playing a lot better defensively and with an intensity, even with a layoff, tightened schedule, and expectations people weren’t really ready for. When they jumped out to the five-and-three start, they were just taking people by surprise that the defense was better than they expected. The defensive numbers were there. From three, they weren’t allowing teams to shoot well, generally. At the same time, Thibodeau was able to get buy in from everybody. Julius Randle was playing relatively under control, posting all the monster, triple-double-type lines throughout, which was kind of driving it and allowing everybody else to play off that. That coalesced quickly. Then, things normalized a little bit. Randle’s mid-range shooting went down, some of the other guys had rough games. They’re still a young team so even against a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers the other night, they had a couple of bad fourth-quarter turnovers. RJ Barrett had the ball in his hands for a game-tying, go-ahead situation and dribbled it off either his foot or Andre Drummond’s and that kind of sealed it. That stinks in the moment. You have to chalk up a loss to Cleveland and it’s your fifth loss in a row. But at the same time, RJ Barrett is getting key this-is-your-chance, last-second reps in the fourth quarter, which is the kind of thing that as he continues to develop, hopefully he makes those plays down the line. Especially if he turns into the type of player everyone’s expecting at this point."
Savage: “Cole Anthony continues his return to New York, this time to MSG. As somebody who was in that organization and worked a number of games there, how real is that mystique, especially for players who are returning to the area?”
Couch: “It’s a real thing. You hear guys talk about it. LeBron (James) is always very complimentary of The Garden and coming back to play there. Reggie Miller loved putting on a show for those fans and taking out those fans with his three-point antics. Michael Jordan, you can go down the list. And it’s a real vibe. (When they have fans in attendance), the fans are smart. They pick up on stuff. I always go back to during Linsanity, Jeremy Lin drove on Deron Williams once and made a layup, and then he did it again. And then the third time, he’s walking the ball up the court and the crowd is on their feet cheering before anything happens. It was just that instantaneous realization that something is happening here. That crowd just pops off, man. I was there for Carmelo Anthony’s sixty-two-point game that set The Garden record for points. Everyone was just in the moment even though that was a down season for the Knicks. They recognized that he was going to take the scoring crown back from Kobe Bryant and it was going to be in the hands of a Knicks player. That stuff matters. And for a guy like Cole whose dad played for some very good Knicks teams in the nineties – those Patrick Ewing and John Starks squads that got as close as game seven of the Finals – I’m sure it has a pretty strong impact on him. As someone who grew up in the area, going to The Garden is a thing. Like actress Chloë Sevigny once said, that was the moment she knew she made it, when she could get her friends front row seats at The Garden. It’s been a while, but it’s still in everyone’s head. The fans are just waiting for the right moment to pop off. Hopefully, the team gets there."
Savage: “The Magic will play the Knicks on MLK Day. Just how special has that day become for the league and the teams who get to play on it?”
Couch: “It was something that came together very naturally. The NBA, even before the events of the past year, has been fairly progressive as far as sports leagues go and generally involved in social justice efforts on the player, team, and league level. The league has tried to bring together those causes and community efforts. They’ve made it a priority to highlight this day and help bring it to everyone’s attention in a way that really highlights some of the strong efforts and connections we’ve made.”