John Raoux/AP
Carmelo Anthony (r.) leaves the game early with an injury, but still leads the Knicks with 19 points in the game.
ORLANDO – Even here, there was no chance the Knicks’ season-long litany of disasters could be expected to just magically disappear.
Leading scorer Carmelo Anthony hobbled to the locker room in third quarter with a sprained left ankle – and returning point guard Raymond Felton painfully joined him in the fourth with a strained right groin – taking most of the pleasure out of the Knicks avoiding a complete collapse and persevering for a 103-98 edging of the Magic at Amway Center.
John Raoux/AP
Mike Woodson sees a rare win this season, but loses Carmelo Anthony in the middle of the game to an ankle injury.
The Knicks (9-18) constructed a 24-point cushion at halftime and still led by a 72-52 count when Anthony went up for a rebound of his own miss and awkwardly landed, with his left foot coming down on the foot of Orlando forward and Long Island product Tobias Harris with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter.
Anthony, who was hampered last season by knee and shoulder problems, limped to the bench and remained there for a few minutes while receiving treatment from trainer Roger Hinds. During a timeout with 5:43 remaining in the quarter, however, the pending free agent headed for the locker room and did not return, although the Knicks gave no further updates before the game ended.
Felton was back in the lineup after missing the previous six games with a hamstring injury, and he finished with 13 points and four assists, before he collapsed to the floor following a collision with Jameer Nelson with 3:21 to go. Felton, who also missed time earlier this season with a pinched nerve in his hip, appeared to be in great pain when he, too, was helped off the court and to the locker room.
John Raoux/AP
Raymond Felton is also hurt Monday night in Orlando.
Anthony finished with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting, but his early exit didn’t prevent him from still being the team’s leading scorer in each of its 27 games this season. J.R. Smith added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, while Arron Afflalo scored 26 and Davis added 20 for Orlando (8-20).
Mike Woodson’s team quickly unraveled following Anthony’s departure, as the Magic embarked on a 31-12 run through the opening minutes of the fourth to slash the lead to 84-83.
But Andrea Bargnani scored six of his 13 points in the fourth, and Iman Shumpert’s defense — a steal and driving layup and another strip of Glen Davis on a drive – kept the Knicks up by four with just under a minute to play. Beno Udrih drained six straight free throws in the final minute for the Knicks, who host Oklahoma City – with or without Anthony — at the Garden on Christmas Day.
John Raoux/AP
Knicks forward Andrea Bargnani takes it to the basket against Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic for two of his 13 points.
Despite a 56-29 rebound discrepancy in the Knicks’ previous loss to Memphis on Saturday, the embattled Woodson stuck with his sizable starting frontcourt of Anthony, Chandler and Bargnani. Led by Chandler’s 13 boards, the Knicks managed a 47-44 rebounding edge Monday night.
“There is no excuse for not rebounding the basketball,” Woodson said before the game. “That takes effort and just mixing it up a little bit. So I’m going to try it again tonight and I expect them to get in there and rebound the basketball.
“You can’t have two seven-footers and a 6-7 guy not come up with rebounds. That’s a problem. So we’ll see how it turns out tonight.”
With Chandler missing more than six weeks until recently with a fractured leg, Woodson has employed 12 different starting lineups through 27 games, including five times with that starting alignment up front. Before Monday’s win, the Knicks had dropped the first four of those games, and they were dominated on the boards and in the paint (60 points allowed) against the Grizzlies.
“The Knicks had crushed rebuilding Orlando by 42 points on Dec. 6 at the Garden, but they followed up that win with a 41-point home loss to Boston to start a 3-5 stretch.
Felton provided an early spark with five quick points, and the Knicks led 29-27 after one. But a 14-5 surge to open the second led to a 36-point quarter, as the Knicks raced to a 65-41 lead at intermission — the most points they’ve scored in any half this season. They were led in the second by 11 points from Smith and nine from Anthony, who beat the buzzer with a baseline jumper.
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