NEW YORK - Franz Wagner scored 21 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a career-high 13 rebounds and nine assists, as the Orlando Magic overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the New York Knicks 111-102 Sunday at Madison Square Garden - handing the defending NBA champions their third straight loss to open the season.
The 6-foot-10 German forward’s performance gave first-year head coach Sean Sweeney his first regular season win since the Magic hired him in June as the 16th head coach in franchise history. “I thought his aggressiveness was great,” Sweeney said. “I thought he did a great job of really attacking and then making good decisions. Early it felt like he was trying to probe and find avenues to attack. In the fourth quarter, he saw space, took the space, and made the right play.”
Anthony Black, the 6-foot-7 guard playing in his first game of the season after missing the first two contests and all of the preseason while recovering from an ankle sprain, came off the bench and contributed 18 points and five assists, making five of his seven 3-point attempts. Desmond Bane added 22 points on four of nine 3-point attempts, and Tristan da Silva chipped in 19 points on five of nine tries from deep. As a team, Orlando drilled 18 of its 42 threes, a 43 percent clip.
“Solid, (but) definitely got some stuff I need to clean up on the defensive end,” Black said of his return. “It’s been a while since I played five on five. Coach is doing a good job telling me when I am messing up and I am going to get that cleaned up for the next game.”
New York’s Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 28 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby each scored 22. The Knicks shot just 41 percent from the field and 24 percent from 3-point distance. New York’s 0-3 start matches the Dallas Mavericks’ 2011-12 campaign as the last defending NBA champion to open the following season with three consecutive losses.
The victory came with a cost. Jalen Suggs appeared to injure his right knee without contact while going up for a layup with just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Orlando is already without Paolo Banchero, who suffered a low-grade right high ankle sprain Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Magic next travel to Toronto for back-to-back games against the Raptors, with the first tip-off Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and an NBA Cup contest Friday at 7:30 p.m.