Vucevic Takes Over, Guides Magic Past Knicks

By ESPN

Despite missing two starters, the New York Knicks erased an early 17-point deficit to tie the Orlando Magic midway through the final quarter.

That's when Nikola Vucevic took over.

Vucevic scored 34 points, eight straight in a decisive 10-0 fourth-quarter run, and the Magic beat the Knicks 105-100 on Sunday.

With the score tied at 85 midway through the fourth quarter, Vucevic made a short basket, a three-point play and a 3-point shot in succession to give the Magic the lead for good.

"Throughout the game I (felt) good. In the fourth quarter, I know it's a time when we need to win a game, we needed to close the game," Vucevic said. "So, I wanted to keep my aggressiveness and carry my team (until) the end."

Evan Fournier had 20 points, Jonathon Simmons added 16, and Elfrid Payton had 15 for Orlando.

Michael Beasley, who replaced the injured Kristaps Porzingis in the starting lineup, led the Knicks with 21 points. Courtney Lee had 19, and Enes Kanter added 18 points and 16 rebounds.

The Knicks were also without Tim Hardaway Jr., who missed the game with a left leg injury.

"We were missing two of our big dogs and that hurt us a lot," Beasley said. "But, we still fought."

The Knicks used an 11-4 run to pull within three at 99-96 on Jarrett Jack's 3-pointer with 27 seconds left. Fournier then hit two free throws with 23 seconds remaining, and Jack followed with a reverse layup with 16 seconds left.

Fournier again connected on two free throws, this time with 13 seconds left.

"We played a solid game, made some mistakes, but we held those guys to 100," Fournier said. "Could have done better, but we are headed in the right direction."

Beasley scored his final two points on a layup with four seconds remaining before Vucevic hit a pair of clinching free throws.

"We did well, we fought back," Beasley added. "We dug ourselves a hole deep. The first group gotta do a lot better starting the game."

The Knicks scored the first six points of the third quarter and took their biggest lead of the game, 57-54, on Damyean Dotson's jumper. However, Orlando answered with its own 6-0 streak and went on to take a 78-76 lead after three quarters.

The Magic never trailed again.

"At this point, we're trying to get as many wins as we can to hang in there with this tough stretch of our schedule," said Magic coach Frank Vogel. "Whatever breaks we get, we'll take. It was a good one for us."

Sunday, December 3 Scoreboard

Orlando 105, New York Knicks 100

Golden State 123, Miami 95

Minnesota 112, Los Angeles Clippers 106

Oklahoma City 90, San Antonio 87

Houston 118, Los Angeles Lakers 95

Monday, December 4 Schedule (All Times Central)

Orlando at Charlotte, 6 p.m.

New York Knicks at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Phoenix at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Brooklyn at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.

Milwaukee at Boston, 6:30 p.m.

Cleveland at Chicago, 7 p.m.

Minnesota at Memphis, 7 p.m.

Golden State at New Orleans, 7 p.m.

Denver at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.

Detroit at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.

Washington at Utah, 8 p.m.