NEW YORK — A sloppy red-flag performance from the Knicks turned into another ugly loss at home.
The lowly Magic won for the second time this season at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, 104-98, as the crowd booed a lethargic and alarming performance.
The new backcourt of Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker was benched for the entire fourth quarter yet again, watching as Orlando’s Franz Wagner delivered the devastating blow with a slam dunk on top of RJ Barrett with 1:45 remaining.
Orlando’s knockout arrived with 30 seconds when Jalen Suggs intercepted Derrick Rose’s pass and hit Wendell Carter for an alley-oop and a 102-96 Orlando lead.
Fournier hasn’t logged fourth-quarter minutes for four straight games. Julius Randle struggled again and looked passive down the stretch. He didn’t attempt a shot in the fourth quarter and finished with just 13 points.
The Knicks (8-7), who are 3-5 at MSG, launched 49 3-pointers and only hit 18 of them, with Barrett missing all seven of his attempts. His worst was a contested stepback trey with 52 seconds remaining that elicited a collective groan from the fans.
It was already the third matchup of the season against the terrible Magic (4-11), which is deeply immersed in one of those rebuilding/tank jobs that will surely end at the bottom of the standings.
The Knicks pummeled them in Orlando, but then were shocked at home in October. They entered Wednesday’s matchup outwardly intent on not overlooking the opponent.
“The thing is, you can’t get to the NBA without being a great player. So everyone in this league is capable of beating you,” Tom Thibodeau said. “So we have to come in, and we’ve already seen how Orlando is capable. They have a lot of talent, and they play hard, and we’re gonna have to be ready.”
Added Barrett: “They outworked us, they played harder than us and they wanted it. So we definitely owe them. Definitely got to come in and try to outwork them tomorrow night.”
To the Knicks players, defeats and poor performances are often explained by the cliches “energy and effort.” It’s a convenient excuse because it’s easily fixed and therefore neither an issue of talent nor game planning.
“If we just hustled more we would’ve won,” becomes the message.
More often, however, there’s either a problem hitting shots or a systemic issue. The Knicks had both issues Wednesday.
Terrence Ross led the Magic with 19 points off the bench.
Barrett scored a team high 17 on 7-of-19 shooting for the Knicks.
