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Anthony leads Knicks past Magic

Mar 29, 2012 - 3:39 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - Carmelo Anthony may have soreness in his groin, but he also had a spring in his step on Wednesday.

With fellow stars Jeremy Lin and Amare Stoudemire out deep into the NBA playoff race, Anthony continued to step up, scoring 25 points, dishing out six assists and grabbing five rebounds as the Knicks routed the Magic, 108-86.

The small forward went for 25 points and 12 boards against the Bucks on Saturday, New York's first full game without Lin and Stoudemire.

Iman Shumpert supplied 25 points while Steve Novak and J.R. Smith netted 16 and 12, respectively, off the bench for the Knicks, who swept a three-game homestand and have won eight of nine overall. Baron Davis, starting in place of Lin at the point, contributed 11 points in the victory.

"They are double teaming 'Melo," said Shumpert. "I know I'm gonna get left open a lot more. With Jeremy out and Amare out, I'm gonna have a lot more open shots and I have to step into them with confidence and knock them down."

Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard combined for 29 points for Orlando, which saw a three-game winning streak snapped.

Nelson's 11 points paced the Magic as they won the first quarter 29-25, but New York took control late in the second.

After the Knicks scored the first six points to take the lead, the teams traded the edge a few times before the hosts ended the frame on a 17-3 run capped off by Novak's buzzer-beating triple to go up 57-41 at halftime.

Novak, Anthony and Davis combined for 23 of New York's 32 points in the quarter while Orlando was held to 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting, including six misses from beyond the arc.

The Knicks broke it open in the third, erupting for 33 points on a 66.7 percent field goal shooting clip that included a 5-of-10 mark from three-point range.

Glen Davis recorded 10 points and the Magic outscored New York 27-18 in the fourth quarter but they never seriously threatened; their smallest deficit was 19 points as the Knicks played most of their reserves.

"We go into these situations where the ball gets stagnant and it stops," said Nelson. "We stopped moving the ball and shot too many jump shots and not enough guys were attacking."

Game Notes

The Knicks announced earlier Wednesday that Stoudemire would miss 2-4 weeks for non-surgical treatment of a bulging disk in his lower back...Lin is day- to-day with a sore left knee...New York's largest lead was 39...The Knicks outrebounded the Magic 49-34 and won 42-30 in the paint.