On a Friday night, the Orlando Magic won their home game against the New York Knicks with 117-108 in NBA. This was the first win since December housed at Kia Center instead of under its old name on December 20.
The biggest star of the night surely was Franz Wagner, who scored 32 points which was his highest so far this season. He also got nine rebounds during this time. The turning point in the game happened in the second quarter. The Magic’s defense was good and didn’t let Knicks shoot that well, only 23.8 percent. Orlando player could score more points (29) than New York with just 15 points during this time. New York had a hard time making long distance shots in the game, only getting 20 percent success rate. This also increased their problems.
Paolo Banchero helped a lot. He scored 29 points and took down 10 rebounds. Jalen Suggs also contributed by getting 21 points. Goga Bitadze played better when Wendell Carter Jr. was not there. He scored 13 points and caught seven balls. This showed how strong the Magic team is deep down. Moritz Wagner did an important job too. He got 11 rebounds and led the team well.
In the first part, Julius Randle from the Knicks scored 16 points. This helped them lead by two before topping out at 29-27. But, in the second period, Orlando took charge and maintained a lead all through the match.
Going to the break, the Magic were up by 11 points at score of 55 for them and 44 for their opponents. They got even more ahead in next quarter until they had a lead of 20 points. Even though the Knicks tried hard at the end to close the gap, making it 110-104, Jalen Suggs helped Orlando get more points by taking a good mid-distance shot. This gave Orlando a lead of seven points.
Orlando won again for the third out of four games. This win ended their bad luck from losing four games in a row. On the other hand, the Knicks lost their third game out of four. This made them start off with a zero win and two losses on their difficult three-game journey away from home.
The Magic’s good defense, stopping the Knicks from getting a lot of shots and only 20 percent score outside the line. This made them win in this game. When Wendell Carter Jr. was not able to play because of his knee injury, the team proved toughness and easy adjustment.
Ahead in the future, Magic are getting ready for a testing 4-game trip off home. They start with a game against Phoenix Suns on Sunday at 8 pm because of where you live in the East side.