Ryan J. Anderson drains 30 as Orlando Magic squeak past New York Knicks 102-93 - NBA Recap
Although Dwight Howard is the Orlando Magic’s most lethal weapon, on Monday night, Magic made a strong statement that they have other players in the team as well that are equally capable of leading them to victories.
In their 12th outing of the shortened season, Magic subdued New York Knicks 102-93 to improve their record to 9-3.
Knicks had focused all their attention to Howard and the ways to prevent him from scoring and they did succeed.
He had a disastrous foul-plagued night and he only managed to finish with 8 points and 10 rebounds. But watching him struggle, other players jumped in and took the team forward.
Ryan J Anderson was phenomenal and scored his career high 30 points on 11 for 19 from the floor. According to him, it was because of Howard’s ball movement inside the court that allowed him and the others to score efficiently tonight.
"He's getting double and triple-teamed at some points," Anderson said. "He's doing a great job keeping composure, being patient, finding guys on the perimeter, and we're moving the ball and that's why we got open shots tonight, just because of him."
J.J. Redick was also superb and pounded 21 points including 3 for 6 from the long range while Hidayet Turkoglu netted 15. Glen Davis came off the bench and pounded 12 to go along with 6 boards.
Magic were accurate from the floor (36-71) and hot from long range (17-35). They outmatched the opponents in both rebounds 41-34 and the assists dished out (21-14).
Carmelo Anthony paced the Knicks with a game high 33 points, 8 boards and 5 assists while Iman Shumpert and the reserve Toney Douglas both accumulated 12 apiece. Amar’e Stoudemire was only employed for 21:54 minutes tonight and in that time he posted 10
points.
Anthony scored 7 quick points in the last two minutes of the first half to ensure Knicks entered the second half in a commanding position ahead by 51-45.
Magic changed gears in the third frame and outscored the Knicks 21-14 in the first few minutes to gain a 1 point lead 66-65. However, in the ensuing passage Knicks regained the lead. Both teams put up a gallant fight after that and by the end of the frame,
Knicks found themselves ahead by 2 points 75-73.
Scores were 85-83 in the favour of New York in the first 5 minutes, however after that, Knicks froze and on the other hand, Magic rattled a 19-8 spurt. That run proved to be decisive as time ran out and New York were unable to reply, giving Orlando a well
earned win.
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