For three quarters on Sunday night, Franz Wagner could not find the basket. Then he scored 21 points in the fourth, and the Orlando Magic left Madison Square Garden with their first win of the season.
Wagner finished with 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in a 111-102 victory over the New York Knicks, one assist away from a triple-double. He opened 1 of 10 from the field, the Associated Press reported, and was 9 of 23 by the end. All five of his free throws came in the final period.
The Magic's team site said the 13 rebounds were a career high.
The win, Orlando's first under coach Sean Sweeney, left the defending champion Knicks at 0-3. Both the AP and the Magic noted that the last reigning champion to open that way was the Mavericks, back in 2011-12.
From 10 down
Orlando trailed 12-0 early and 75-71 after three quarters. When OG Anunoby's floater made it 86-76 with 9:20 left, New York looked ready to pull away.
Wagner would not let it. He got to the line twice in 22 seconds, scored off his own miss, then converted a layup on a Jalen Suggs pass and the free throw that followed. That three-point play finished an 11-0 run, nine of the points his, and gave Orlando an 87-86 lead with 7:25 to go, its first of the night.
Over the final 9:20, starting from that 10-point hole, the Magic outscored New York 35-16. Wagner kept attacking the rim, scoring twice in 24 seconds late to push the lead to 102-94, and closed his night with a running layup off a Wendell Carter Jr. feed with 38 seconds left. Orlando won the quarter 40-27, and eight of New York's 14 turnovers came in it.
"I thought his aggressiveness was great," Sweeney said, according to the Magic's website. Late in the game, the coach added, Wagner "saw space, took the space, and made the right play."
