How the Magic Turned Weaknesses Into Strengths in Win Over Knicks

The Orlando Magic got their first win of the 2026-27 NBA season on Sunday, beating the defending NBA champion New York Knicks 111-102 in Madison Square Garden. 

The win was Sean Sweeney's first as an NBA head coach, and in a way, it was serendipitous that it came against the team who beat him in the NBA Finals last season, when he was the top assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs.

After struggling greatly from the three-point line over their first two contests, the Magic were much better on Sunday, shooting 42.9% from beyond the arc. They also grabbed four more rebounds than New York did.

Guard Anthony Black, who made his season debut after recovering from an ankle sprain, was Orlando's best sharpshooter, hitting five of his seven three-point attempts.

The Magic took care of business in their first game without Paolo Banchero as he recovers from a low-grade right high ankle sprain, and they fixed issues that plagued them in Friday's 115-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. On the latest episode of the Full Court Magic Podcast, I recapped what those struggles looked like while emphasizing that Orlando needed to find a way to be better, especially without Banchero on the floor: 

"It's interesting because Sweeney, in the preseason, liked what he was seeing in terms of the Magic shooting from the perimeter. He wants the team to get quality shots, and those were the quality shots that were coming. Well, these last two games, guys, the Magic went 13-for-40 from the 3-point line in the loss to the Hawks to start the season, and then 8-for-39 the other night against Minnesota, just 20.5% from the field. That is just egregious. And so they're really cold right now.

I'm not sure it's gonna get any better because the Magic haven't shown us any proof or precedent of it being better. They've been a poor shooting team and a poor offensive team for years now, and Sweeney and his tactics were supposed to remedy this, but he can't go out there and make shots for them. He can only scheme it up and try to coach them in practice to be better, but they haven't been better so far.

They're gonna need to be, because it really hurt them in that 115-93 loss to the Timberwolves on Friday, a game in which the Magic kept Minnesota's stars in check. I mean, Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball combined to go, I believe, 9-for-36 from the field. Yep, confirming here: 9-for-36 from the field; combined for 27 points. They really stifled them, especially after the night that Edwards had in Miami, where he dropped 45 points and spoiled Giannis Antetokounmpo's home opener with the Heat. 

The Magic kept him in check, but they did not shoot well enough, and they were demoralized, it seemed, by all the second-chance opportunities the Timberwolves were getting. I mean, Minnesota grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, guys. I mean, that will be deflating, and Sweeney confirmed that it was deflating after the game. Even though the Timberwolves went 6-for-17 on second-chance opportunities, I believe they only had 17 points."

The Magic fixed these issues on Sunday, and it finally led to a win. Now, they have to keep it up.