Magic had been playing well and got off to a good start. But they played poorly in the 4Q. I guess that's part of lacking a PG.
Mud might have finished, but he was rather messy. One possession around the 6 min mark, Muddy started to lose his dribble, recovered and passed off, got the ball back and tried to lose his dribble again. he got called for a charge when he used his favorite shoulder-push-off to clear space int he paint. Had a rim shot blocked. Clanked a 3.
Granted he was better than Jr Smitty who had a poor game and displayed really bad defensive instincts. He likes to gamble on D, and frequently has no idea where to switch. I haven't seen much lately, but Smith was mostly a mess on both ends.
The comeback hero might have been Trier who forced the issue, had one sweet whirligig layup and forced fouls on ORL.
Hellenson played a solid game. He's a little jittery like the game hasn't slowed down yet, but he was active, hit the floor once, and canned the biggest shot.
Knox. <sigh> He played hard but just wasn't able to do anything. He needs to go up strong near the rim. He plays smaller than his size the way he crouches and doesn't take advantage of his athleticism. Some muscle will help, but you need to go up strong and confident. Force contact and make the refs blow their whistle if need be.
Mitch was pretty great. 17 & 14 with 6 Blocks and 8 O-boards.
Besides the half-dozen blocks there were a few intimidations. Once Fournier drove, saw the Mitch-switch and he became uncertain and just lost his dribble out of bounds.
Knick management should be thinking of having Mitch and Knox long term, 10 year Knix. Now that might not be possible, but that should be the thinking. We need to develop players, keep them around, let fans watch them grow and root them.
Continuity is a good thing. As far as I can tell, there are only two players -- Franc and Lance -- left from last year's opening day roster. And they are both bench guys this year.
I saw DeAndretheGiant clapping for Ellenson, and I was wondering if he even knew Ellensons' first name ...