Knicks 105, Magic 103: Scenes from Elfrid Payton’s stealing clinic

It was a hell of a day for the Knicks today.

New (“unconfirmed”) President of Basketball Operations. No more Marcus Morris. And now, a 105-103 win over the Orlando Magic on the back of a career-high EIGHT steals from Elfrid Payton.

Payton was truly electric tonight, following up his triple-double on Monday with a 15-point, nine-assist, eight-steal effort tonight, coming pretty damn close to a second straight trip-dub. No steal was more fun than the one that ultimately sealed the game:

Meanwhile, you’d think the Knicks would have struggled without Morris, but the spacing was actually quite a bit better without he and Randle sharing the floor. The more clunky moments of that pairing won’t have to be endured anymore, and Randle actually performed quite nicely with 22 points on 8-16 shooting, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and only two turnovers. Randle also hit a positively Morris-like dagger down the stretch:

Oh, and RJ Barrett came back! Rook had 18 minutes and didn’t really look rusty at all coming off his sprained ankle, with 12 points on 3-6 shooting and three assists. Easily my favorite addition of the trade deadline was getting him back.

Oh, and Wayne Ellington randomly remembered how to shoot??

So yeah, fun game. Third straight win! ONLY SIX GAMES OUT OF THE 8-SEED BABY, LET’S GO!

Miranda’s got your recap later.