Magic at Knicks: All Wrong

The Magic may have laid their biggest egg of the entire season as they traveled to New York and were simply outworked by one of the worst teams in the NBA, the New York Knicks. Orlando looked like a team that wanted to take Sunday off as New York recorded their 21st victory of the season, 100-90.

What went wrong:

1. Rebounding- Orlando’s struggles on the glass continued as the Knicks outworked the Magic en route to 17 offensive boards and a 55-52 rebounding advantage.

2. Free throw shooting- Free throws were again not free as the Magic missed 12 of their 29 attempts for just 58.6%. Dwight Howard was just 3-10 from the stripe.

3. Three point shooting- The normally reliable Magic couldn’t hit their outside shots with any consistency as they missed on 27 of their 36 three point attempts for just 25%.

4. No energy- Orlando seemed to play down to the level of their opponent, and when you visit New York, that’s really saying something. The Magic appeared to be in a low gear for much of the night, and they played most of the game as if it were meaningless.

5. Rashard Lewis disappeared- Rashard Lewis seemed to be bothered by the defense of Renaldo Balkman and Jared Jeffries, as he was just 2-12 from the field for 6 points. Lewis missed on 8 of his 9 three-point attempts.

6. Offense overall- The Magic couldn’t get out of their own way as they scored just 90 points against one of the worst defensive teams in the entire NBA. Orlando shot just 40% from the field (32-80) as they missed countless open shots.

The only good news for the Magic on this night was that there were no major injuries and the game was meaningless. Otherwise, it was a complete flop and the Magic didn’t look like they wanted to play at all.