Knicks Lose Shamet Early & Get Outmuscled Late. Orlando 133 NY 121

Mitchell Robinson with the rebound vs Orlando. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

The Magic did a job on the Knicks with their physical play, taking out Landry Shamet with a shoulder separation early, and outmuscling the Knicks in the 4th quarter for an easy 133-121 win in Orlando on a Saturday night.

Shamet was knocked out of the game and maybe the season in the 1st quarter by running into a hard screen set by Orlando center Wendell Carter Jr. who lowered his shoulder into Shamet. Shamet hurried off the court straight to the lockerroom in obvious pain, holding his shoulder — the same one he separated in training camp before last season. To add insult to injury, he was incorrectly called for a foul on the play.

NY hung with Orlando until the 4th, when their aggressive play ripped the game away from NY — with Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner, Anthony Black, Jonathan Isaac, and Tristan da Silva amping up their play to run the Knicks off the court. Wagner had 37 pts on 13-19 shooting, Suggs added 26 pts, and Desmond Bane had 27.

Jalen Brunson led NY with 33 pts, Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 pts, and Mikal Bridges had 18 pts.

NY looked like a team that has lost its MOJO since firing Tom Thibodeau — just another good NBA team but not as good as Orlando or division-leading Detroit. Albeit NY is without OG Anunoby (still out with a hamstring pull), and now Shamet. Miles McBride was also out for this game with an illness.

“Dunk after dunk for Orlando,” said Athletic reporter James L. Edwards III late in the 4th quarter. “Knicks’ deficit up to 18. With Shamet already getting hurt, Anunoby out and McBride sick … might be time to wave the flag soon. The defense has gotten worse as the game has gone on.”

“Very poor defensive showing tonight,” added NBA fan Nick Collantino.

“Why is this fan base, crashing out?” asked NYKMentality85. “When you fire the Coach who just led you to our 1st Eastern Conference Finals Appearance since dating back to 1999 of 26 years ago? You’ve gotta start all over.”

NY falls to 9-6; Orlando improves to 10-7.

1. Orlando Takes Shamet Out in 1st Quarter

The Knicks jumped out to an 8-2 lead with scoring by Mikal Bridges assisted by Landry Shamet, when Wendell Carter Jr. lowered the boom on Shamet with an illegal screen that the refs didn’t see — instead calling the foul on Shamet. Shamet was gone to the lockerroom with what looked like a separated shoulder. His season is in jeopardy.

Josh Hart replaced Shamet, and the Knicks continued to push the score — taking aΒ 15-5 lead as Jalen Brunson hit consecutive 3’s — the later of which was a 4-pt play as Jalen Suggs fouled him.

But Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., and Jalen Suggs led Orlando on a 14-0 run to take a 19-15 lead. NY battled back on a bucket by Hart and consecutive 3’s by Mikal Bridges and Brunson, and then Brunson fed Mitchell Robinson for two alley oop dunks in the final 2 minutes — the first giving NY a 25-23 lead, the 2nd giving NY a 29-27 lead with 29 seconds left in the quarter.

Desmond Bane made a drive-and-1 to give Orlando a 31-29 lead after 1 quarter.

2. NY Leads 66-64 at the Half

The Knicks outscored the Magic 37-33 in the 2nd quarter to take a 66-64 halftime lead. Jordan Clarkson added punch off the Knicks bench, and he and KAT led the NY attack.

3. Orlando Up 98-93 After 3 Quarters

Tyler Kolek saw a lot of playing time with Shamet out — and Kolek played well. Kolek stole the ball twice in the 3rd quarter. He finished withΒ  17 minutes and had 8 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from 3, 3-6 in free throws) with the 2 steals.

Mohamed Diawara also got more action — 10 minutes and got a steal in the 1st quarter, but 0 points on 0-4 shooting.

KAT and Brunson did much of the Knick scoring in the 3rd, but Orlando edged ahead 98-93 entering the 4th.

4. Orlando Bullies NY in 4th

The game was 109-104 Orlando with 8:31 left in the 4th after a Mitchell Robinson slam off a Brunson feed.

But Franz Wagner made a bucket inside and then hit a 3 to put Orlando up 10. Knick timeout.

After the timeout, Jalen Suggs entered the game for Orlando — and he immediately hit a 3.

Suggs then knocked the ball away from Josh Hart at midcourt, and muscled the ball away from Hart in a tussle on the floor — and Hart was called for a foul and got a technical too as he accidentally grabbed Suggs’ neck. Suggs celebrated afterwards on the court.

Some Knick fans thought Orlando got away with murder on the play.

Suggs hit the technical free throw and Orlando was up 118-104 and were on their way.

The play epitomized the game and maybe (hopefully not) the season, as Orlando seemed to show they — along with Detroit — have passed the Knicks in defensive MOJO.

NY seemed deflated, and Orlando lit the place up with dunk after dunk down the stretch.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810124

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