Magic overtakes Knicks; Billups bruised

ORLANDO, Fla. - Hold the celebration to welcome the return of the vaunted Knicks defense. And perhaps instead there should be concern about the possibility of losing Chauncey Billups, who in four games since last week's trade has emerged as perhaps the most important piece of the Knicks' new Big Three.

Billups suffered a bruised left quadriceps muscle late in a 116-110 loss to the Magic Tuesday night after getting hit by Dwight Howard's knee. He was attempting to run over a pick by Howard when his leg hit Howard's knee. The collision created time and space for Jameer Nelson to hit a long jumper with 2:27 left to give Orlando a 112-106 lead.

"It's real sore, real sore," Billups said after the game. "Hopefully, it gets better."

On the ensuing possession, he dribbled up the court but then stopped and called timeout and bent over. He left the court under his own power, but the fact that he could not finish the game is alarming. "For me to come out at that point of the game," he said, "is rare."

As Billups gingerly limped out of the locker room to the team bus, it was hard to believe he would be able to play against Chris Paul and the Hornets Wednesday night at the Garden.

"You just never know," Mike D'Antoni said. "It's going to be sore, we'll find out how bad."

If Billups can't play, it will be a major loss for a team that was never able to pick up a capable backup point guard before the trade deadline or off waivers. Toney Douglas has struggled when asked to run the offense as the primary point guard. The team also has veteran Anthony Carter.

Coincidentally, Billups had his biggest night so far for the Knicks (30-28) with 30 points, but Nelson had 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, including a personal 11-0 run that all but put away the game for the Magic (39-22). With the Knicks' defense focusing so much on Dwight Howard (30 points), Nelson had an easy time running off high screens for open looks.

"That's what they do," D'Antoni said of the Magic. "That's why they're good."

A game after holding the Miami Heat to just 86 points in Sunday's win, the Knicks surrendered 69 in the second half alone against the Magic.

"We had a couple of lapses on the rotations," said Amar'e Stoudemire, who had 30 points, but just two rebounds in 37:47.

Howard, who relaunched his MVP campaign website, Dwight4MVP.com, earlier in the day, had 16 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Carmelo Anthony had 25 points but shot 8-for-24 from the field, including 1-for-5 from three-point range. Anthony, who was defended aggressively by Jason Richardson during the game, said he got the looks at the basket he normally gets.

"Yeah," he said. "I just missed them."

The Knicks' bench was outscored 44-11. In a whistle-filled game that included five technical fouls (though none on the NBA technical leaders, Stoudemire and Howard) the Knicks were hit with 29 fouls and put Orlando on the line 50 times.

Orlando played without sixth man Gilbert Arenas (sore knee) and played most of the game without Hedo Turkoglu, who was ejected with 4:01 left in the second quarter after picking up his second technical foul while sitting on the bench.

The Knicks led by 11 at the half and maintained it until 1:25 left in the third, when Anthony's free throws gave them an 84-73 advantage. But the Magic then outscored the Knicks 19-4 over the next 9:36 to bridge the third and fourth quarters and take a 92-88 lead with 8:22 left in the game.

"I think we should have won the game," Stoudemire said. "We played well enough to win, we just didn't close the game out."