The Orlando Magic have eight games remaining on their regular-season schedule, and with the Eastern Conference playoff race, there are ample opportunities for the Magic’s seeding to change.

The team currently sits in sixth place in the East, which would mean it would lose homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But even without homecourt advantage, the Magic would be well-served if the current standings hold from now until the end of the season. If the season had ended after last night’s games, the Magic would have drawn a first-round playoff matchup against the Indiana Pacers.

And of the seven other teams likely to make the East playoffs, the Magic match up best against the Pacers.

The Pacers would not be an easy opponent. Indiana has improved across the board, highlighted by the continued development of 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert and the emergence of shooting guard Paul George.

Still, the Magic won the regular-season series three games to one, including a 102-83 blowout win in Indianapolis on Jan 24 and a gritty 85-81 win in Indianapolis on Feb. 4 in which the Magic flew to Indiana on the day of the game.

The Philadelphia 76ers are the only other likely East playoff team that has a losing record this season to the Magic, and the Sixers can even the series at 2-2 with a win Monday in Orlando.

Ideally for the Magic, they would have homecourt advantage and a first-round matchup against the Pacers.

But given a choice between one or the other, I think they would prefer to face Indiana instead of having homecourt advantage and a first-round matchup against, say, the Boston Celtics or the Atlanta Hawks.

Follow Josh Robbins on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins and e-mail him at jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

COMMENTARY | According to WKMG Local 6 Sports Director David Pingalore, the Orlando Magic‘s superstar, Dwight Howard, is intensely frustrated with coach Stan Van Gundy and wants him out of town.

The question, of course, is whether anyone believes this or not or whether Pingalore is cooking up garbage for TV ratings. Count me in the latter category.

Dwight Howard does nothing but praise Van Gundy, and it is mutual. Both denied the report, and one Magic player who refused to have his named used said “I don’t think Stan (leaving) is a done deal yet.”

Of course it’s not. It all hinges on one thing and one thing only: how well the Magic do in this year’s playoffs. They’ve fallen to the fifth seed now and if the playoffs began today, they would face the Boston Celtics in the first round.

That is not a favorable matchup.

Even without Kendrick Perkins in the fold to cover Dwight Howard, Boston poses all kinds of matchup problems for the Magic. Rajon Rondo is simply too good to be covered by Jameer Nelson, and Boston’s best defensive player (Kevin Garnett) will be covering Orlando’s second leading scorer, Ryan Anderson.

It doesn’t look good for Van Gundy, but I don’t believe Howard is the reason. While the Magic and many other teams are wiling to cater to players before coaches, Howard has benefitted immensely from SVG, and was called a likely Hall of Famer by the Magic coach in a pre game press conference before a nationally televised game against the Lakers. “The only thing keeping Howard out of that conversation is his body of work. He’s only been in the league for seven years,” Van Gundy reiterated.

Does that sound like the words of a coach on the rocks with a team’s superstar? Would he be praising Howard so heavily if he really wanted to oust the ill tempered Van Gundy?

Doubtful.

It’s worth keeping an eye on, of course, but don’t believe everything you read or hear. I don’t believe Pingalore’s report at all.

Source: David Pingalore, Channel 6 News, WKMG

“It’s all hands on deck right now,” coach Stan Van Gundy said after the team completed its shootaround and film-review session at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

“We could possibly be without three starters and really the three guys who’ve been our best offensive players over the last month. So it could be everybody on deck. We’ll see.”

Howard and Nelson attended the shootaround but did not participate.

Howard, who missed Orlando’s game Sunday night, is suffering from back spasms.

Nelson has a sore left calf, and he said his calf has bothered him for “three or four games.” Nelson can play with the injury, but Van Gundy said team officials will proceed cautiously. Athletic trainer Keon Weise must determine whether the injury will worsen if Nelson continues to play.

“Anytime you have a strain or anything like that, especially the lower body, you have that issue of playing on it and when to stay off of it,” Nelson said. “We’ve just got to be smart about it and continue to treat my body and listen to the training staff.”

Glen Davis is expected to start tonight, but the question is where he’ll start. If Howard plays, Davis would start at power forward. If Howard does not play, then Davis would start at center, and Earl Clark likely would start at power forward.

But the team is thin on big men, and Van Gundy acknowledged it’s “very possible” that rookie Justin Harper and second-year rookie Daniel Orton will be pressed into action.

Van Gundy said: “We’ll sort of come to the game prepared for everything: having Dwight and Jameer, having one of ’em and not the other, having neither one of ’em.”

The injuries have arrived at a bad time for the Magic, who have lost three consecutive games.

The Magic are third in the Eastern Conference standings, but they are only half a game ahead of the Indiana Pacers and 1½ games ahead of the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. If the Magic fall to fifth or worse in the standings, the Magic would lose homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Each of the three regular-season division winners is ensured a top-four seed in the playoffs. So if the Pacers or the Hawks overtake the Magic but the Celtics do not overtake the Magic, then the Magic still would be seeded fifth.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

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As if they didn’t already know, the Orlando Magic learned Sunday night just how valuable Dwight Howard is.

Especially on the defensive end of the floor.

The Magic, playing without their injured center, just could not stop the Denver Nuggets.

Point guard Ty Lawson maneuvered into the paint at will, and shooting guard Arron Afflalo hit from the perimeter to lead the Nuggets to a 104-101 win at Amway Center. The Nuggets shot almost 56 percent from the field, the highest field-goal percentage by a team against the Magic this season.

“We couldn’t stop ‘em at all,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “At all. They shoot 56 percent. We could not get a stop on any situation, so it was a very frustrating night. And I’ve been saying it all along: We need to get a lot, lot, lot better defensively, and tonight that was certainly exposed.”

The Magic lost their third consecutive game.

Even worse, their loss left them just one-half game ahead of the Indiana Pacers and 1½ game ahead of the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed in the upcoming playoffs. If both the Pacers and the Celtics end the season ahead of the Magic, the Magic would lose homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

And it’s unclear when Howard will return. He is suffering from back spasms.

“He was sore,” said his co-captain, Jameer Nelson. “You obviously hope he gets better quick. No matter what the situation is, we need the guy. But most importantly, we need him healthy.”

Sunday proved that.

Howard’s absence gave Lawson added incentive to drive to the hoop. Howard, the NBA’s reigning three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is Orlando’s top shot-blocking threat and its most physical low-post presence.

Lawson finished with 25 points — including two on a key jumper near the end of regulation — and nine assists. Afflalo added 22.

“I think they got to the rim a lot,” Magic shooting guard Jason Richardson said. “I don’t think we did a great job of keeping them out of the paint. They just kept on attacking us.”

Lawson came off a pick-and-roll and hit a pull-up jumper from 18 feet with 23.9 seconds to go that put the Nuggets ahead 101-97. The basket prompted his teammate Al Harrington to stretch out his arms parallel to the parquet court and motion up and down, shushing the announced crowd of 18,846.

That play also could cost the Magic (32-21). Starting power forward Ryan Anderson, the team’s second-leading scorer, sprained his right ankle on the play.

“That was tough,” Van Gundy said. “Not only him getting hurt, but that’s the play. We’re down two, and he just turns his ankle, falls down and the guy gets a wide-open elbow jump shot. That’s the one that sort of put it away.”

Denver (29-24) had some good fortune at the end.

After Andre Miller hit one of two foul shots to put Denver up by three, Richardson tripped as he let loose a desperation 3-pointer from almost 35 feet away as time expired.

Nelson scored a game-high 27 points and added five assists.

“We lost a tough one tonight and we had our opportunities,” Nelson said. “I thought our effort was great. We fought. But we’re not a team here for moral victories and pats on the back. We still are discouraged that we didn’t win the game.”

Glen Davis, who started in Howard’s place, scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, including a career-high nine on the offensive glass.

“When you’ve got your three-time defending Defensive Player of the Year not in, everybody’s got to take the matchup more personally and don’t let your man score,” Davis said. “But, at the same time, we have to be defensive-oriented team and be there for the next guy. We didn’t do it and get stops when we needed to.”

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

As if they didn’t already know, the Orlando Magic learned Sunday night just how valuable Dwight Howard is.

Especially on the defensive end of the floor.

The Magic, playing without their injured center, just could not stop the Denver Nuggets.

Point guard Ty Lawson maneuvered into the paint at will, and shooting guard Arron Afflalo hit from the perimeter to lead the Nuggets to a 104-101 win at Amway Center. The Nuggets shot almost 56 percent from the field, the highest field-goal percentage by a team against the Magic this season.

“We couldn’t stop ‘em at all,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “At all. They shoot 56 percent. We could not get a stop on any situation, so it was a very frustrating night. And I’ve been saying it all along: We need to get a lot, lot, lot better defensively, and tonight that was certainly exposed.”

The Magic lost their third consecutive game.

Even worse, their loss left them just one-half game ahead of the Indiana Pacers and 1½ game ahead of the Boston Celtics for the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed in the upcoming playoffs. If both the Pacers and the Celtics end the season ahead of the Magic, the Magic would lose homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

And it’s unclear when Howard will return. He is suffering from back spasms.

“He was sore,” said his co-captain, Jameer Nelson. “You obviously hope he gets better quick. No matter what the situation is, we need the guy. But most importantly, we need him healthy.”

Sunday proved that.

Howard’s absence gave Lawson added incentive to drive to the hoop. Howard, the NBA’s reigning three-time Defensive Player of the Year, is Orlando’s top shot-blocking threat and its most physical low-post presence.

Lawson finished with 25 points — including two on a key jumper near the end of regulation — and nine assists. Afflalo added 22.

“I think they got to the rim a lot,” Magic shooting guard Jason Richardson said. “I don’t think we did a great job of keeping them out of the paint. They just kept on attacking us.”

Lawson came off a pick-and-roll and hit a pull-up jumper from 18 feet with 23.9 seconds to go that put the Nuggets ahead 101-97. The basket prompted his teammate Al Harrington to stretch out his arms parallel to the parquet court and motion up and down, shushing the announced crowd of 18,846.

That play also could cost the Magic (32-21). Starting power forward Ryan Anderson, the team’s second-leading scorer, sprained his right ankle on the play.

“That was tough,” Van Gundy said. “Not only him getting hurt, but that’s the play. We’re down two, and he just turns his ankle, falls down and the guy gets a wide-open elbow jump shot. That’s the one that sort of put it away.”

Denver (29-24) had some good fortune at the end.

After Andre Miller hit one of two foul shots to put Denver up by three, Richardson tripped as he let loose a desperation 3-pointer from almost 35 feet away as time expired.

Nelson scored a game-high 27 points and added five assists.

“We lost a tough one tonight and we had our opportunities,” Nelson said. “I thought our effort was great. We fought. But we’re not a team here for moral victories and pats on the back. We still are discouraged that we didn’t win the game.”

Glen Davis, who started in Howard’s place, scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, including a career-high nine on the offensive glass.

“When you’ve got your three-time defending Defensive Player of the Year not in, everybody’s got to take the matchup more personally and don’t let your man score,” Davis said. “But, at the same time, we have to be defensive-oriented team and be there for the next guy. We didn’t do it and get stops when we needed to.”

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

NEW YORK — It doesn’t add up.

The Orlando Magic own the fifth-best record in the NBA, and yet on too many nights this season, they have played terribly.

They played without any passion Wednesday night and they paid an all-too-familiar price. The New York Knicks administered a 108-86 drubbing in which the Magic trailed by as many as 39 points and looked inept on offense.

“What’s shocking to me is that a team that’s playing over .600 basketball can get absolutely rocked as many times as we have been,” coach Stan Van Gundy said.

“Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, tonight — that’s what’s mind-boggling to me. It’ll happen every once in a while if you’re a bad team. To be a .600 team and get crushed like that as many times as we have? That’s shocking.”

On Wednesday, nothing worked from the middle of the second quarter onward. The Knicks, who were playing without injured starting point guard Jeremy Lin and injured starting power forward Amar’e Stoudemire, went on a 12-0 run before halftime and on a 21-0 run during the third quarter.

“It’s coming down to be crunchtime, and we shouldn’t have to talk about effort,” point guard Jameer Nelson said. “That’s absurd to me to have to come in the locker room and talk about effort.”

The rebounding numbers told the larger story. Even though they employed a smaller lineup, the Knicks still collected 16 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Magic 49-34 overall.

“As a whole, we didn’t compete hard enough,” shooting guardJ.J. Redicksaid. “Same old story with us.”

The Magic, despite their 32-19 record, have an ugly knack of losing in humiliating fashion and then faulting themselves for their lackluster effort.

On Jan. 23, they fell 87-56 to the Boston Celtics and produced an all-time franchise-low point total. On Jan. 27, they lost 93-67 to the lowly New Orleans Hornets. On March 19, they were beaten 85-59 by the Chicago Bulls.

Add another awful performance to their résumé.

“It should be frustrating for everybody,” Dwight Howard said. “We just have to step up and play the right way, and when we don’t, we have games like this.”

The Magic allowed their ball movement to slow to a crawl. They committed 19 turnovers, including six during the Knicks’ decisive third-quarter run. And they could not guard.

Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, Quentin Richardson and Earl Clark took turns guarding Carmelo Anthony, and none of them did well. Anthony finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and carved up the defense with six assists.

“It didn’t hurt him tonight that he had his jump shot going,” said Mike Woodson, the Knicks’ interim coach.

Even Howard had an off-night.

He finished with 12 points and just five rebounds, and the Knicks outscored the Magic by 31 points when Howard was on the floor.

But aside from Nelson, who scored 17 points, no one played well when the outcome was still in doubt.

Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Ryan Anderson combined to score 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

The loss ended the Magic’s winning streak at three games.

With their win, the Knicks improved to 26-25 overall and 8-1 under Woodson.

“This season has been a rocky season for us,” Anthony said.

The Magic have experienced a roller-coaster ride, too.

And, now, they’ve fallen into another valley.

“We got behind, they hit a lot of shots, they got us down,” Van Gundy said. “And then we just sort of died. We didn’t do anything we had talked about doing. We played with no energy. We were very individual at the offensive end. And not much effort.”

In the end, it just didn’t add up.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

Copyright © 2012, Orlando Sentinel

NEW YORK — It doesn’t add up.

The Orlando Magic own the fifth-best record in the NBA, and yet on too many nights this season, they have played terribly.

They played without any passion Wednesday night and they paid an all-too-familiar price. The New York Knicks administered a 108-86 drubbing in which the Magic trailed by as many as 39 points and looked inept on offense.

“What’s shocking to me is that a team that’s playing over .600 basketball can get absolutely rocked as many times as we have been,” coach Stan Van Gundy said.

“Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, tonight — that’s what’s mind-boggling to me. It’ll happen every once in a while if you’re a bad team. To be a .600 team and get crushed like that as many times as we have? That’s shocking.”

On Wednesday, nothing worked from the middle of the second quarter onward. The Knicks, who were playing without injured starting point guard Jeremy Lin and injured starting power forward Amar’e Stoudemire, went on a 12-0 run before halftime and on a 21-0 run during the third quarter.

“It’s coming down to be crunchtime, and we shouldn’t have to talk about effort,” point guard Jameer Nelson said. “That’s absurd to me to have to come in the locker room and talk about effort.”

The rebounding numbers told the larger story. Even though they employed a smaller lineup, the Knicks still collected 16 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Magic 49-34 overall.

“As a whole, we didn’t compete hard enough,” shooting guardJ.J. Redicksaid. “Same old story with us.”

The Magic, despite their 32-19 record, have an ugly knack of losing in humiliating fashion and then faulting themselves for their lackluster effort.

On Jan. 23, they fell 87-56 to the Boston Celtics and produced an all-time franchise-low point total. On Jan. 27, they lost 93-67 to the lowly New Orleans Hornets. On March 19, they were beaten 85-59 by the Chicago Bulls.

Add another awful performance to their résumé.

“It should be frustrating for everybody,” Dwight Howard said. “We just have to step up and play the right way, and when we don’t, we have games like this.”

The Magic allowed their ball movement to slow to a crawl. They committed 19 turnovers, including six during the Knicks’ decisive third-quarter run. And they could not guard.

Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, Quentin Richardson and Earl Clark took turns guarding Carmelo Anthony, and none of them did well. Anthony finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and carved up the defense with six assists.

“It didn’t hurt him tonight that he had his jump shot going,” said Mike Woodson, the Knicks’ interim coach.

Even Howard had an off-night.

He finished with 12 points and just five rebounds, and the Knicks outscored the Magic by 31 points when Howard was on the floor.

But aside from Nelson, who scored 17 points, no one played well when the outcome was still in doubt.

Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Ryan Anderson combined to score 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

The loss ended the Magic’s winning streak at three games.

With their win, the Knicks improved to 26-25 overall and 8-1 under Woodson.

“This season has been a rocky season for us,” Anthony said.

The Magic have experienced a roller-coaster ride, too.

And, now, they’ve fallen into another valley.

“We got behind, they hit a lot of shots, they got us down,” Van Gundy said. “And then we just sort of died. We didn’t do anything we had talked about doing. We played with no energy. We were very individual at the offensive end. And not much effort.”

In the end, it just didn’t add up.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony knocked down three long jumpers, finding a rhythm that’s been missing most of the season.

Then the Knicks really got rolling — on their biggest run in 8 1/2 years.

Anthony and the Knicks climbed above .500 for the first time since mid-January in overwhelming fashion, scoring 21 straight points in the third quarter and routing the Orlando Magic 108-86 on Wednesday night.

Anthony and Iman Shumpert each scored 25 points for the Knicks (26-25), who won for the eighth time in nine games despite playing without the injured Amare Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin. New York outscored Orlando 65-30 in the middle two quarters and has a winning record for the first time since it was 6-5 before a loss to Oklahoma City on Jan. 14.

“I said this at the top, as a coach I’m always interested in when you’re short-handed who’s going to step up and make plays? And we’re getting it from everybody and that to me is a sign of a good, quality team that wants to win,” interim coach Mike Woodson said.

The Knicks moved 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and pulled within 2 1/2 of Philadelphia and Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division. New York could get Stoudemire back before the end of the season, announcing Wednesday that he could be back in two to four weeks after non-surgical treatment for a bulging disk in his back.

Anthony knows he must step up until then without Stoudemire and Lin (sore left knee), and he had his second straight strong performance since they were hurt. Anthony scored 28 points Monday, and would have easily surpassed that had he not been limited to 26 minutes.

Playing despite a strained right groin, Anthony shot 9 of 15, his jumper that has been off all season falling in a third-quarter flurry that blew open the game.

Anthony said it’s been a rocky season, which includes his own struggles with injuries and his shot, the resignation of coach Mike D’Antoni, and now the injuries to the Knicks’ second- and third-leading scorers. But they sure seemed as if they had it all figured out in the third quarter, when they had their longest consecutive run of points since a franchise-record 24 in a row against Indiana on Nov. 15, 2003.

“Right now, with the coaching change, we’ve been playing extremely well,” Anthony said. “Guys seem to be responding pretty well. We’ve been really locked in on our mission right now.”

NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony knocked down three long jumpers, finding a rhythm that’s been missing most of the season.

Then the Knicks really got rolling — on their biggest run in 8 1/2 years.

Anthony and the Knicks climbed above .500 for the first time since mid-January in overwhelming fashion, scoring 21 straight points in the third quarter and routing the Orlando Magic 108-86 tonight.

Anthony and Iman Shumpert each scored 25 points for the Knicks (26-25), who won for the eighth time in nine games despite playing without the injured Amar’e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin. New York outscored Orlando 65-30 in the middle two quarters and has a winning record for the first time since it was 6-5 before a loss to Oklahoma City on Jan. 14.

“I said this at the top, as a coach I’m always interested in when you’re short-handed who’s going to step up and make plays? And we’re getting it from everybody and that to me is a sign of a good, quality team that wants to win,” interim coach Mike Woodson said.

The Knicks moved 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and pulled within 2 1/2 of Philadelphia and Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division. New York could get Stoudemire back before the end of the season, announcing today that he could be back in two to four weeks after non-surgical treatment for a bulging disk in his back.

Anthony knows he must step up until then without Stoudemire and Lin (sore left knee), and he had his second straight strong performance since they were hurt. Anthony scored 28 points Monday, and would have easily surpassed that had he not been limited to 26 minutes.

Playing despite a strained right groin, Anthony shot 9 of 15, his jumper that has been off all season falling in a third-quarter flurry that blew open the game.

Anthony said it’s been a rocky season, which includes his own struggles with injuries and his shot, the resignation of coach Mike D’Antoni, and now the injuries to the Knicks’ second- and third-leading scorers. But they sure seemed as if they had it all figured out in the third quarter, when they had their longest consecutive run of points since a franchise-record 24 in a row against Indiana on Nov. 15, 2003.

“Right now, with the coaching change, we’ve been playing extremely well,” Anthony said. “Guys seem to be responding pretty well. We’ve been really locked in on our mission right now.”

Jameer Nelson scored 17 points, and JJ Redick had 15 for the Magic, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Ryan Anderson, who made seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points in the Magic’s 102-93 victory here Jan. 16, took just four shots and scored three points.

“They’re playing small and we got crushed on the boards. That to me is the one that tells me that the effort wasn’t there. When you give up 16 offensive rebounds to a team that’s playing small, that that’s an effort problem,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.

The Knicks built a big lead by outscoring Orlando 32-12 in the second quarter, then made it a blowout in the third.

After scoring mostly down low in the first half, Anthony came out and knocked down two 3-pointers and a long jumper to make it a 20-point game. Dwight Howard made a layup before a short jumper by Baron Davis ignited the 21-0 burst, the Knicks’ longest of the season.

Orlando went scoreless for more than 6 minutes, and it was 88-49 after Shumpert’s jumper with 2:58 remaining in the third period.

Howard had 12 points on seven shots for the Magic, who had won 14 of the previous 17 meetings. They equaled their highest point total of the season Monday by scoring 117 in Toronto, but couldn’t get anything going against a Knicks team that is allowing only 86 points per game since Woodson replaced D’Antoni on March 14.

“When we want to play, we’re a great team. We just have to bring that effort every night,” Howard said. “It should be frustrating for everybody. We just have to step up and play the right way. When we don’t, we have games like this.”

The Knicks used a 12-0 run to take a 52-38 lead on Shumpert’s layup with 1:20 remaining in the first half. The Knicks took a 57-41 lead into the break on Steve Novak’s 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Novak scored 16 points, and fellow reserve JR Smith had 12.

NOTES:

Magic F Glen Davis was fined $35,000 by the NBA on Wednesday for making an obscene gesture during the second quarter Monday at Toronto.

The Knicks’ previous best this season was 17 straight points against Dallas on Feb. 19.

Today was the 17th anniversary of Michael Jordan’s famed “Double Nickel” game at Madison Square Garden, when he scored 55 points in his first game back at the arena following his first retirement in a 113-111 Chicago victory.

BOX SCORE

NEW YORK — It doesn’t add up.

The Orlando Magic own the fifth-best record in the NBA, and yet on too many nights this season, they have played terribly.

They played without any passion Wednesday night and they paid an all-too-familiar price. The New York Knicks administered a 108-86 drubbing in which the Magic trailed by as many as 39 points and looked inept on offense.

“What’s shocking to me is that a team that’s playing over .600 basketball can get absolutely rocked as many times as we have been,” coach Stan Van Gundy said.

“Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, tonight — that’s what’s mind-boggling to me. It’ll happen every once in a while if you’re a bad team. To be a .600 team and get crushed like that as many times as we have? That’s shocking.”

On Wednesday, nothing worked from the middle of the second quarter onward. The Knicks, who were playing without injured starting point guard Jeremy Lin and injured starting power forward Amar’e Stoudemire, went on a 12-0 run before halftime and on a 21-0 run during the third quarter.

“It’s coming down to be crunchtime, and we shouldn’t have to talk about effort,” point guard Jameer Nelson said. “That’s absurd to me to have to come in the locker room and talk about effort.”

The rebounding numbers told the larger story. Even though they employed a smaller lineup, the Knicks still collected 16 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Magic 49-34 overall.

“As a whole, we didn’t compete hard enough,” shooting guardJ.J. Redicksaid. “Same old story with us.”

The Magic, despite their 32-19 record, have an ugly knack of losing in humiliating fashion and then faulting themselves for their lackluster effort.

On Jan. 23, they fell 87-56 to the Boston Celtics and produced an all-time franchise-low point total. On Jan. 27, they lost 93-67 to the lowly New Orleans Hornets. On March 19, they were beaten 85-59 by the Chicago Bulls.

Add another awful performance to their résumé.

“It should be frustrating for everybody,” Dwight Howard said. “We just have to step up and play the right way, and when we don’t, we have games like this.”

The Magic allowed their ball movement to slow to a crawl. They committed 19 turnovers, including six during the Knicks’ decisive third-quarter run. And they could not guard.

Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson, Quentin Richardson and Earl Clark took turns guarding Carmelo Anthony, and none of them did well. Anthony finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting and carved up the defense with six assists.

“It didn’t hurt him tonight that he had his jump shot going,” said Mike Woodson, the Knicks’ interim coach.

Even Howard had an off-night.

He finished with 12 points and just five rebounds, and the Knicks outscored the Magic by 31 points when Howard was on the floor.

But aside from Nelson, who scored 17 points, no one played well when the outcome was still in doubt.

Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Ryan Anderson combined to score 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

The loss ended the Magic’s winning streak at three games.

With their win, the Knicks improved to 26-25 overall and 8-1 under Woodson.

“This season has been a rocky season for us,” Anthony said.

The Magic have experienced a roller-coaster ride, too.

And, now, they’ve fallen into another valley.

“We got behind, they hit a lot of shots, they got us down,” Van Gundy said. “And then we just sort of died. We didn’t do anything we had talked about doing. We played with no energy. We were very individual at the offensive end. And not much effort.”

In the end, it just didn’t add up.

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

Copyright © 2012, Orlando Sentinel

Time is running out for the Orlando Magic to smooth out their rough edges. Their regular season will end April 26, almost one month from today, leaving them precious few opportunities to prepare for the playoffs.

At 31-18, the Magic own the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and the fifth-best record in the NBA. That’s an impressive achievement for the coaches and the players. They rose above the distractions brought on by the Dwight Howard stay-or-go saga and overcame the injuries the team faced with its starting backcourt.

Yet there are areas in which the team must improve for it to make a deep playoff run, and Stan Van Gundy wants his players to make a concerted effort to address those weak points.

“We’ve got to want more,” Van Gundy said after a recent win.

“I think players hate it when you mention other teams. But if you watch Chicago play, every single night that team’s on a mission. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. They play from start to finish every night. They don’t screw around with games. That’s what you’ve got to be, and I’m not sure we’re on that kind of mission.”

Here are some specific areas Orlando must shore up with 17 regular-season games remaining:

• Defensive dynamics: Aside from Howard, the Magic have few players who are good one-on-one defenders. That means Orlando players must place a higher emphasis on team defense. They can’t make mental mistakes on rotations, and they need to make the most of their repetitions during their limited practice time. Through Friday, the Magic ranked ninth in the NBA in points allowed per possession.

• Cutting turnovers: The Magic average 15.6 turnovers per game, the sixth-highest figure in the NBA through Friday. The problem has worsened lately. They have committed at least 19 turnovers in four of their past five games. It’s one thing to lose the ball 20 times against a bad team such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, as the Magic did Friday. But it’s a recipe for disaster in a playoff series. It’s a delicate balance between maintaining their aggressiveness and trying to avoid mistakes; still, players need to pass and catch the ball with two hands whenever possible.

• Turk work:Hedo Turkoglu is one of the Magic’s crucial wild cards. Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson initiate the bulk of the Magic’s offense, and when they both play well, the Magic are a difficult team to beat. When they both are off, the Magic’s chances of winning plummet severely. Turkoglu, 33, is more inconsistent than Nelson, 30. Turkoglu’s game might be declining because of his age, so perhaps Van Gundy would do well to give him more rest with the playoffs approaching. And Turkoglu needs to make sure he’s getting the proper rest, too.

• Ball movement: The Magic don’t have a perimeter player in their rotation who can consistently create his own shot. So the Magic need to move the ball with energy and make the extra pass to generate open shots, especially against top defensive teams.

• Holding leads: It’s unrealistic to expect any team to play with maximum effort 48 minutes a game for every game. But the Magic need to do a better job protecting leads. They led by 27 points in a Jan. 26 loss to Boston, by 14 points in a March 1 loss to Oklahoma City and by 20 points in a March 6 defeat in Charlotte.

• Free-throw focus: Howard spent plenty of time this off-season working on his free-throw shooting, but he’s making a career-worst 48.4 percent of his foul shots. The team cannot rely on him as a fourth-quarter offensive threat unless he improves.

jbrobbins@tribune.com

Copyright © 2012, Orlando Sentinel

Glen “Big Baby” Davis‘ first season with the Orlando Magic has resembled a ride on an unrelenting roller coaster. Exhilarating highs have been followed by stomach-churning lows.

That roller coaster might be slowing.

The backup big man scored 16 points and gathered seven rebounds in Wednesday’s win over the Phoenix Suns. But the numbers themselves weren’t the main takeaway for him; it was that he felt like he belonged. A sellout crowd inside Amway Center — the same crowd that booed him earlier this season — even showered him with cheers.

“It’s been a long time coming for me to feel like that in a game where I can just feel like I’m doing something right for a change,” Davis said.

Stan Van Gundy called Davis’ performance “one of his best games of the year.”

Davis would welcome some stability in this tumultuous season, which has been filled with ups and downs.

He agreed to a four-year deal and he expected to make an immediate impact on the court. Then, within weeks, he realized he would not be in the starting lineup.

He played great on Jan. 8 in Sacramento to lead the Magic to a win. Then, about a week later, he learned his grandmother had died.

He received a loud ovation when he made his return to Boston’s TD Garden on Jan. 23. Then, about a week later, he had an outburst and argument with Van Gundy during a shootaround that led to a two-game suspension.

At 6 feet 9 and 290 pounds, Davis looks imposing, but in reality, he might be one of the most sensitive players on the Magic roster. He wanted to be embraced by Magic fans, and he openly acknowledges that the boos inside Amway Center hurt his feelings.

The loudest boos occurred on Feb. 13, during a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in which Davis went 1 for 10 from the field. At the time, the fans did not know that Davis’ biological father had died the day before. The death of his father, obviously, was more serious than the boos. But when they were taken together, they still felt like a one-two punch to the gut.

But the boos weren’t the only problem.

For months, Davis struggled to accept his role.

Magic coaches want him to serve as a hard-nosed defender, a gritty screener on offense and an all-around energy player who will hustle to every loose ball.

That wasn’t entirely what Davis envisioned in December, when he signed a four-year deal worth $26 million.

“When I got here, I was worried about the wrong things,” Davis said. “I was worried about things that I wanted to come. I wanted to be something. I wanted to do this. I wanted to do that. And it didn’t work out my way, and it took me a while to get over it.

“Stan had to sometimes suspend me or make me realize, ‘Hey, man, you’re going to get your turn. You’re gonna play. We’re gonna need you sometime.’ And that was it. And now I understand.”

Davis now looks more joyful on the court.

In a nod to his nickname, the Magic public-address system often plays clips of the Justin Bieber song “Baby” or Sir Mix-a-Lot‘s “Baby Got Back” when Davis makes a basket or sinks a free throw.

Davis loves it.

He wants the cheering to continue.

After recent losses, he explained that the Magic had to follow the lead of the 2007-08 Boston Celtics, who played like a team en route to a title.

Now, in order for him to set an example, he’ll have to continue to accept the team concept.

Maybe then he and his teammates will experience another high this roller coaster season: the high of winning.

jbrobbins@tribune.com.

Copyright © 2012, Orlando Sentinel

The Orlando Magic are doing all they can to bring an NBA championship home this season. With April marking the final month of the NBA season, a strong showing is necessary for ideal NBA Playoff positioning. Look for Dwight Howard, Ryan Anderson, and Jason Richardson to come up big in their final push.

Check with your service provider for channel listings in your area. With NBA League Pass, Magic fans across the nation can catch every game and witness every play.

Note: All start times Eastern

April 2012

Sun 1, Denver Nuggets at Orlando Magic, 6 p.m. (SUN, NBATV)

Tue 3, Orlando Magic at Detroit Pistons, 7:30 p.m. (FS-F)

Thu 5, New York Knicks at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. (TNT)

Sat 7, Orlando Magic at Philadelphia 76ers, 8 p.m. (FS-F, ESPN)

Mon 9, Detroit Pistons at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. (FS-F)

Tue 10, Orlando Magic at Washington Wizards, 7 p.m. (FS-F)

Fri 13, Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. (FS-F)

Sun 15, Orlando Magic at Cleveland Cavaliers, 6 p.m. (FS-F)

Mon 16, Philadelphia 76ers at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. (FS-F, NBATV)

Wed 18, Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics, 8 p.m. (FS-F, ESPN)

Sat 21, Orlando Magic at Utah Jazz, 10:30 p.m. (FS-F, ESPN)

Sun 22, Orlando Magic at Denver Nuggets, 8 p.m. (FS-F)

Wed 25, Charlotte Bobcats at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. (FS-F)

Thu 26, Orlando Magic at Memphis Grizzlies, 8 p.m. (FS-F)

Sources:

All data provided by NBA.com

Paul Rados is a Cleveland based freelance sportswriter and Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook. For a complete look at his freelance work please visit his Blog.

By Ethan Rothstein

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Feb 19, 2012 – After scoring just 56 points in a game in January against the Boston, the Orlando Magic, with Dwight Howard trade rumors swirling, seemed like they were ready to roll over and call it a season. They lost four out of their next five games and looked lifeless and listless.

Since that losing stretch, they’ve won eight of their 10 games and find themselves right in the mix for a home series in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Among those eight victories was a resounding 102-89 win over the Miami Heat and wins over the Indiana Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Magic’s formula — surrounding Howard with dynamite three-point shooters — has worked to perfection as they’ve barraged opponents from the outside with ruthless efficiency.

Speaking of ruthless efficiency, no one has eviscerated opponents like the Miami Heat recently. They’ve won five straight since their loss to the Magic, beating teams by an average of 18.8 points in those games. The trifecta of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh has performed at stunningly high levels game in and game out. Despite being surrounded by two All-Stars, the MVP buzz surrounding James seems unavoidable. He’s averaged 28 points, 8.1 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.7 steals this season, numbers that are unavoidably incredible. He’ll look to continue that dominance in a classic revenge game at home.

For more on these two teams, visit Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier and Magic blog Orlando Pinstriped Post.

Read More: Dwight Howard (C – ORL), LeBron James (F – MIA), Orlando Magic, Miami Heat

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