Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson isn't feeling well today (Joshua C. Cruey, Orlando Sentinel)
NEW YORK — Jameer Nelson sat out the Orlando Magic’s shootaround this morning at Madison Square Garden because he felt sick, but he said he expects to play when the Magic face the New York Knicks tonight.
“Whatever it takes,” said Nelson, who watched the shootaround from the Garden sidelines.
Nelson left the arena wearing a surgical mask as a joke.
Different team?
New York has a 7-1 record since March 14, when Mike Woodson replaced Mike D’Antoni and became the interim coach.
In that span, the Knicks have held opponents to 40.3 percent shooting from the field, the lowest defensive field-goal percentage in the league.
“They’ve been pretty good at that end all year,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I think that’s actually been the story nobody’s talked about with New York: how good they’ve been defensively all year and what an improvement they’ve made. And they did it when Mike [Woodson] was an assistant and Mike D’Antoni was coaching, and they extended that now.”
The numbers also indicate the Knicks are better defensively when power forward Amar’e Stoudemire is off the floor, Van Gundy said. Stoudemire is out of action because of a lower-back issue.
“They’re a little bit quicker,” Van Gundy said. “They’re switching a lot of pick-and-rolls, if not all of them, and they’re very, very good. They force a lot of turnovers, which obviously has been an issue with us, and they are a very, very aggressive, quick defensive team.”
Layups
• Jeremy Lin, the Knicks’ starting point guard, will not play tonight. Baron Davis is expected to replace Lin in the lineup.
• This is a big game for the Knicks. New York began the day two games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks for the eighth, and final, playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
• Marc Davis, Karl Lane and Eric Lewis have been assigned to referee tonight’s game.
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