A scrappy loss to the Knicks in Madison Square Garden 84-91, after a poor night shooting the ball for the Magic that struggled for offence.
UK FRIENDLY TIP OFF
For the first time this season, we were lucky on MLK Day to have a friendly tip off of 5pm in the UK.
The last time Orlando had a tip off this early was during the NBA restart, in the Bubble back in August, so we made the most of watching a game at a decent time.
FIRST THREE QUARTERS
The opening quarter really set the tone for the Orlando Magic scoring just 13 points in the quarter against a stingy Knicks defence, coached by first year head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Orlando raced out to a lead in the opening minutes thanks to Nikola Vucevic scoring the teams first 9 points.
The Magic lost the lead with 5 minutes remaining and struggled scoring right up until the fourth quarter, scoring 25 in the second quarter and 16 in the third.
The only real offence was coming from Nikola Vucevic who finished with 24 points and Aaron Gordon with 18 points.
FOURTH QUARTER COMEBACK
Trailing by 12 at the start of the final quarter, Orlando got a huge lift off the bench from Terrence Ross who scored 16 of his 19 points to cut into New York’s deficit.
The biggest play coming with the Magic down by 2 with 3:33 remaining, T-Ross grabbed the loose ball, tipped from a jump ball and unleashed a prayer from three point range with the shot clock running down, that dropped in to give Orlando a 1 point lead.
But poor offensive execution from the Magic allowed the Knicks to close the game on a 11-3 run in a frustrating, disappointing loss.
AARON GORDON
Until the final few minutes that included a costly turnover from Gordon, AG was instrumental in helping Orlando get key stops on the defensive side of the ball.
He arguably had his best night of the season that included a career high 17 rebounds to go along with 18 points and was 1 assist shy of recording a triple double.
He didn’t have a great night shooting the ball, the Magic didn’t either but his ability to defend Julius Randle and provide some much needed energy gave Orlando a chance to pull out a win.
THE SHOUTOUT
A scrappy loss to the Knicks did come with a great surprise from David Steele, Jeff Turner and Dante Marchitelli live on the Fox Sports Florida broadcast.
Right after the half time interval, our friends gave us an amazing, unexpected shoutout that included our Podcast ‘Penny For Your Thoughts‘.
We’d just like to say thank you to David, Jeff and Dante who are always really supportive in the work we do here at Orlando Magic UK.
And we also want to thank everyone who subscribes, downloads, listens to our podcast and leave kind comments and reviews.
You can find that video below and on our YouTube channel by clicking here.
A full game review of this disappointing loss for Orlando by Josh Cohen on the Orlando Magic website can be read here.
