NEW YORK _ The crowd was roaring as the Knicks were coasting toward a second straight win Thursday night, one highlight play after another followed by posing and posturing. And then the scare came.
Kristaps Porzingis went down and when he got up he stood trying to shake the pain out of his right knee. Porzingis was driving into the lane when he appeared to bang knees with Orlando's Nic Vucevic just 22 seconds into the fourth quarter. He hobbled to the bench and immediately was taken to the locker room, favoring his right knee. The Knicks called it a contused right knee and while he returned to the bench, he did not come back in the game.
The Knicks didn't need to risk a return to action with the game a one-sided affair, eventually taking a 106-95 decision over the Magic.
The win was the Knicks second straight, improving to 16-13. Derrick Rose led the team with 19 points while Carmelo Anthony had 15 and Willy Hernangomez added 15 off the bench. Kyle O'Quinn had 14 points and 16 rebounds.
Orlando coach Frank Vogel, who was cut loose from Indiana after last season, spoke about his interest in the Knicks vacancy.
"I interviewed with Steve (Mills) and Phil (Jackson) and had a good couple of days with those guys and put myself in position," he said. "They decided to hire Jeff. Which was a good decision. Jeff's a great coach. I have a lot of respect for this organization and this city and it was an honor to be interviewed."
Vogel had worked as an advance scout under Jackson in Los Angeles.
"I didn't have a lot contact with Phil that year that I was advance scouting," he said. "I was really a regional scout. But we did have a connection through Brian Shaw. I learned a lot about Phil through Brian Shaw. I hired Brian Shaw because of Phil in a lot of ways to learn about the things that he did and what his approach was. So there was a small connection there."
