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The Orlando Magic played a fine offensive game Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, but nonetheless dropped their seventh straight game, 113-97, against the New York Knicks. Any team that manages 97 points on the road in an exceptionally slow game--as the four factors chart below shows, the teams had an estimated 83.7 possessions each--should win handily. But the Knicks' offense dominated Orlando's defense all night, and particularly in the fourth quarter, to take the win.
| Team | Pace | Efficiency | eFG% | FT Rate | OReb% | TO Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic | 83.7 | 115.9 | 53.9% | 18.2 | 23.5 | 13.1 |
| Knicks | 83.7 | 135.0 | 65.9% | 6.1 | 30.3 | 10.8 |
| Green denotes a stat better than the team's 2012/13 average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's 2012/13 average. | ||||||
For perspective, consider that Knicks center Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire combined for 35 points on 17-of-18 shooting, with all of their field-goal attempts coming inside the restricted area... on the same night that New York shot 14-of-34 on three-pointers. On those 52 possessions, New York came away with 77 points. No team, not even one scoring at Orlando's clip, can hope to win when it's so permissive in the lane and at the arc.
The Magic had a strong enough game offensively despite missing Arron Afflalo and losing Glen Davis less than five minutes in. Those two players lead the Magic in scoring on the year, but Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick combined for 50 points to pick up the slack.
One factor that helped the Knicks pull away--the game was tied at halftime--was its rebounding. The Knicks grabbed 21 of a possible 34 misses in the second half.
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