There is one bright spot in Orlando's backcourt. Anthony Black missed the Minnesota game with his ankle, but the Orlando Sentinel reported he took part in shootaround and has had no setbacks. Getting him back would help a defense that gave up 132 and 115 in its first 2 games. On the other side, the Knicks look nothing like a team that just raised a banner. Their problems so far are effort and execution, not injuries.
The Knicks keep losing the same way. Philadelphia won the opener with a third-quarter run while New York shot about 37% and turned it over 15 times. In Boston it was 1 point at halftime until the Celtics won the third 33-24. The Knicks took the 4th 30-24 and still came up short. Jalen Brunson scored 21 in the opener but was inefficient doing it, and Mike Brown has said publicly that he expects his team to be sharper. Losing the third quarter twice in a row usually means a problem with halftime adjustments or legs, not shooting luck. A Magic team that just came off a 22-point loss is a decent spot to fix it.
Talent-wise this should belong to New York. Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are all available, and Andre Drummond had what the local coverage called an encouraging debut. Orlando's case depends on the injury report breaking right: Banchero healthy enough to carry the offense, Black back to steady the guard rotation, and a defense that stops getting run over. Sunday will show whether the Knicks' bad start is something real or just 2 slow nights, and whether the Magic have enough healthy bodies left to make them pay for it.