The New York Knicks fell apart in the second half. They entered halftime with a two-point lead, and found themselves trailing by 18 late in the fourth quarter to the Orlando Magic. The final score would end up being 121-133, with New York suffering another deflating loss to the Magic.
The Knicks’ defense was nonexistent in the second half
The Knicks’ defense has been an issue all season long, and once again, it caused more problems for them against the Magic. Orlando outscored the Knicks by 14 in the second half and blew the game open thanks to poor defense from everybody.
It is worth noting that the Knicks were shorthanded. Already without OG Anunoby due to a hamstring strain, they were without Deuce McBride due to an illness, and Landry Shamet suffered a shoulder injury in the opening minutes. Still, nobody could step up in their absence and allowed the Magic to reach a new season-high for points in a game this season.
Three-point defense has been the usual problem for them this season, but this time it was the paint that gave them trouble. Orlando scored 64 points in the paint against New York’s 46, and they had no trouble handling the two bigs of Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson.
Neither big man gave much resistance to Orlando, and they had no answer for Franz Wagner. He finished with a season-high 37 points along with six rebounds and seven assists.
Towns’ shooting woes continued against the Magic
Towns has been in some kind of rut to begin the season. He is in the midst of his worst shooting season to date, and his struggles from the three-point line continued against Orlando.
Towns shot 2-for-6 from three on a night where he scored 24 points. On the surface, that doesn’t seem like an issue, but Towns has been struggling to get into a consistent rhythm from outside and is trending in the wrong direction offensively.
Towns didn’t do himself many favors by committing two offensive fouls, both of which took the Knicks’ momentum away from them. While he has the track record of being a successful offensive player, he has had a really hard time snapping out of his funk.
The Knicks need him to figure things out sooner rather than later, or else they will have a tough time winning games with him struggling this much.
Jalen Brunson delivered another strong performance
Jalen Brunson was perhaps the only positive for the Knicks tonight, showing why he is their leader on offense. He finished with 33 points and 11 assists on 12-for-21 shooting from the field, including three three-pointers.
Brunson was seemingly the only Knick to get going offensively. That is not typically a recipe for success, and they can’t rely on him every single game to carry them to a victory.
The rest of the guys need to step up in a big way on both ends of the floor. They have the depth to support Brunson, but they need to piece things together on the court.
Overview
The Knicks are now 1-2 on the five-game road trip, and the vibes do not feel great right now. They’ll have a big opportunity for a bounce-back win against the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Monday, where they desperately need to come away with a dominant win.