Knicks at Magic final score: New York holds off Orlando 103-98

The Orlando Magic cut a 25-point deficit to one in the fourth quarter, but ultimately couldn’t quite catch the New York Knicks, falling 103-98 on Monday night.

The Knicks were led by Carmelo Anthony, who scored a team-high 19 points on seven-of-14 shooting before leaving the game in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle.

J.R. Smith had 18 points and 10 rebounds off of the bench and Iman Shumpert made two key defensive plays in the final quarter- a steal and score and a chase down strip of Glen Davis on a fast break.

Arron Afflalo had 26 points, five rebounds and five assists to lead the Magic. Davis had 20 points and seven rebounds, Nikola Vucevic had 14 points and 12 rebounds and Jameer Nelson fell just shy of his first career triple double with 17 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

The Knicks led by 24 at the half after outscoring the Magic 36-14 in the second quarter. The Magic, however, outscored the Knicks 35-19 in the third and cut the lead to one with 8:27 to play, but Andre Bargnani made a couple of key jumpers and Beno Udrih, who spent part of last season with the Magic, hit six free throws to close the game out.

“I’m not that good of a coach to dig a hole like that,” Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn said he told his players after the game.

The Knicks are now 9-18 while the Magic are 8-20.