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Thursday night’s duel between the Knicks and Magic was a janky-ass affair, punctuated by some magnificent stretches from New York’s second unit. Kristaps Porzingis scared the hell out of the Garden crowd when he banged knees with a defender in the fourth — he appears to be fine, thank God — but the quartet of Kyle O’Quinn, Willy Hernangomez, Brandon Jennings and Mindaugas Kuzminskas not only rallied without their uniform, they sealed the Knicks’ win.
Carmelo Anthony struggled with his shot, but was able to do jussssssst enough, as you can see here when he got this layup after using his knees to dribble:
KUUUUUUUUZ! #Knicks 36 Magic 23 | 2Q. #NYKvsORL pic.twitter.com/HJAvBoLr85
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 23, 2016
Brandon Jennings was red-hot with the pass throughout this game — 12 assists! — including this sweet pass to Mindaugas Kuzminskas on the break:
.@brandonjennings ➡️ @MKuzminskas! #NYKvsORL #Knicks pic.twitter.com/WfutzgvQjt
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 23, 2016
Yung Cheesy had some quality run off the bench, disrupting Orlando’s rhythm on defense, hitting some jumpers, and eliciting chants of KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZ from the Garden crowd:
KUUUUUUUUZ! #Knicks 36 Magic 23 | 2Q. #NYKvsORL pic.twitter.com/HJAvBoLr85
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 23, 2016
Kuz and Willy hooked up for this wild bucket off a broken play:
.@MKuzminskas + @willyhg94 = #NYKvsORL #Knicks pic.twitter.com/bVIXkR8QAx
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) December 23, 2016
Oh, and there was a “We want Baker” chant coming from the crowd in the final minutes. As long as Kristaps is OK, this was a good night. Recap to come.