New York Knicks defeated Orlando Magic 99-89 and registered their fifth straight victory in the current NBA season. They are the only team to remain unbeaten in the league.
It is one of their best starts in an NBA season. In the 1993-94 season, they won the first seven games and in the current season, they are unbeaten in the first five.
Carmelo Anthony added 25 points, 2 assists and grabbed 8 rebounds, J. R. Smith and Raymond Felton added 21 points each.
''Defense, we buckled down,'' The Associated Press quoted Anthony as saying. ''We kind of slowed them down, kept them off the glass rebounding. Once we had a chance to rebound the basketball, get out and make some shots, we didn't turn back from there.''
J.J. Redick added 18 points, 7 assists and grabbed 4 rebounds and Arron Afflalo scored 13 points, 5 assists and had 4 rebounds for the Magic.
The Magic were without their starters Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu. They are struggling to win this season and have already lost five games in a row.
''You have to want to win more, simple as that,'' Afflalo said. ''There's not one man on this team that's going to do it, (we) pretty much have to want it more.''
The New York scored 27 points in the first quarter against the Magic's 23. At the end of the second quarter, the Knicks were leading by only four points. New York coach Mike Woodson wasn't happy with that.
''We weren't playing hard enough,'' Woodson said. ''You can't just roll the ball out and think because their record indicates that they may not be good or they're struggling as a team - any team can beat you in this league ... We got a few stops, and scored a bucket and we were able to secure the win. But it was a tough victory tonight.''
The Magic's younger players, like rookies Maurice Harkless and Andrew Nicholson battled till the last and did not let game to the Knicks easily. Magic coach Jacque Vaughn was hopeful for the future.
''We can't afford to make mistakes, but for me at the end of this game I was pretty proud of our guys and their effort tonight,'' Vaughn said. ''That's a good ball club on both ends of the floor and we made them earn a win tonight.''
After winning the game, Smith said the Knicks are enjoying where they're at right now.
''It's great. It's a great feeling,'' he said. ''We want to keep it going. So we can't get too lackadaisical like we did in that first half.''
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