{"id":82794,"date":"2025-12-14T05:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T05:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/82794\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T05:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T05:02:10","slug":"knicks-advance-to-nba-cup-final-after-knocking-off-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/82794\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks advance to NBA Cup final after knocking off Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 David Copperfield\u2019s face is plastered across the street for his nightly magic shows at MGM Grand. But the Knicks made the Magic disappear from Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Their trip to Sin City will be extended, as they dispatched Orlando 132-120 Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena to advance to the NBA Cup finals.<\/p>\n

The reigning Clutch Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson is often at his best in playoff-like settings or elimination games. <\/p>\n

Saturday was the latest example.<\/p>\n

He sounded sick during media day Friday, his voice cracking as he spoke. <\/p>\n

\"OrlandoJalen Brunson reacts after hitting a shot during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 13 game against the Magic. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

One day later, it was the Magic who must have been sick of watching him dominate them.<\/p>\n

Brunson poured in a season-high 40 points on stellar 16-for-27 shooting from the field. <\/p>\n

He added eight assists as well.<\/p>\n

As the Knicks regained control of the game late in the third quarter, Brunson dropped Anthony Black \u2014 who had told The Post he planned to \u201cget into his jersey and see how he responds\u201d on Friday \u2014 with a stepback before drilling a 3-pointer. <\/p>\n

The neutral-site crowd \u2014 with plenty of empty seats \u2014 didn\u2019t exactly create an electric atmosphere. <\/p>\n

But the play brought the loudest reaction of the game. <\/p>\n

Later in the fourth quarter, MVP chants \u2014 usually reserved for Madison Square Garden \u2014 emerged as he took free throws with 6:56 left in the game.<\/p>\n

Jalen Suggs \u2014 known more for his defense than offense \u2014 hurt the Knicks early, scoring 25 points in the first half. But he subsequently went missing, scoring just one point in the second half. <\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero\u2019s final numbers look okay, but he missed all six threes he took and was a weak spot for the Magic.<\/p>\n

Franz Wagner\u2019s absence was also glaring for the Magic \u2014 he suffered a high ankle sprain during the previous meeting between the two teams last week. <\/p>\n

Without him, the Knicks had too much firepower. <\/p>\n

He got hurt in the first quarter of that game, so both Knicks wins over the Magic have now come with him sidelined after he killed them the first two matchups.<\/p>\n

Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby chipped in 29 and 24 points, respectively. <\/p>\n

\"OrlandoKarl-Anthony Towns defends during the Knicks\u2019 Dec. 13 game against the Magic. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Anunoby was a menace defensively with three steals.<\/p>\n

Josh Hart\u2019s red-hot 3-point shooting of late was missing, missing all four 3-pointers he took. <\/p>\n

But he characteristically found other ways to impact the game, finishing with six rebounds, six assists and three steals.<\/p>\n

Since Hart entered the starting lineup, that grouping has been one of the best units in the league. Saturday showed why.<\/p>\n

Off the bench, Tyler Kolek was a team-best plus-17. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Mitchell Robinson chipped in nine rebounds and four blocks.<\/p>\n

After getting bullied during the first two matchups with the Magic this year, the Knicks have now beaten them twice within three games \u2014 with Saturday eliminating them from the in-season tournament as a result. <\/p>\n

Desmond Bane, who has emerged as a Knicks nemesis this year, tried setting a tone physically by knocking several players around. <\/p>\n

The Knicks, though, weren\u2019t fazed.<\/p>\n

This won\u2019t suffice the finals-or-bust expectations they set for themselves. <\/p>\n

That will have to come in the spring.<\/p>\n

But in this NBA Cup, they were the last team standing in the East.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 David Copperfield\u2019s face is plastered across the street for his nightly magic shows at MGM…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17006,17007,2295,15355,139,141,1239,140,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-82794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-jalen-brunson","9":"tag-karl-anthony-towns","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-york-knicks","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-magic","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}