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Knicks win battle of futility in Orlando

Apr 12, 2015 - 3:47 AM Orlando, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Tim Hardaway Jr. scored seven of his 13 points in the final 1:10 to help the New York Knicks to an 80-79 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night.

Victor Oladipo followed two free throws from Hardaway with a layup to tie the game at 77-77 with 33.3 seconds left. Out of a timeout, Langston Galloway missed a layup, but he gathered his rebound and Hardaway buried a 3-pointer with 12.6 seconds showing.

Oladipo missed a pair of 3s in the closing seconds prior to Nikola Vucevic making a layup to account for the final margin.

"No matter what happened out there... they just found a way to stay together and figure out a way to win the game," Knicks coach Derek Fisher said.

Hardaway's late heroics were a vast contrast to a historically bad second quarter, as the teams combined for an NBA record low 15 points.

Cole Aldrich had a career-high 19 points with 14 rebounds for the Knicks, who snapped a six-game road losing streak.

Oladipo had 21 points to lead all scorers, and Vucevic deposited 12 points with 13 boards in the loss.

By just looking at each team's record, it is well known the Knicks and Magic are two poor basketball teams. They showed their futility in an astonishing second quarter.

Aldrich had 14 points and seven rebounds in the first quarter to help New York to a 30-24 lead entering the second.

Each team then went extremely cold.

Orlando missed its first 10 shots as the Knicks extended their lead to 12 with an elongated 6-0 run. Dewayne Dedmon scored the Magic's first points with a putback dunk with 4:13 left in the half.

New York went scoreless for the final 4:01 of the second as Orlando trimmed its deficit to 38-31. Both teams made three field goals in the quarter and combined for 15 points, the lowest-scoring quarter in terms of combined points in NBA history.

The Knicks stretched their lead to 61-50 entering the fourth quarter, and it was a 14-point spread after Quincy Acy canned a 3-pointer to open the final stanza. Willie Green scored five points during a 10-0 spurt to help Orlando get back into the game.

Vucevic then supplied six in an 11-2 spurt that he capped with a hook shot for a 73-70 lead. Aldrich converted a three-point play moments later that tied the game with 3:02 remaining.

"We're going to have game like this," Oladipo said. "Our shots weren't falling today, (but) we still had a chance to win.

Game Notes

Orlando has lost two straight since a three-game winning streak ... The Magic played in their final home game and finished the season 13-28 at home ... Both teams combined to shoot 0-for-9 from beyond the arc in the second quarter ... Knicks forward Andrea Bargnani missed the game due to an illness ... Orlando closes out the season with a two-game road trip to Miami and Brooklyn ... New York wraps up its schedule at Atlanta before a home date against Detroit.