Now even Amar’e Stoudemire is wearing down.
It’s breaking apart piece by piece, and Dwight Howard flexed his mighty muscles to aid in the continuing destruction of the Knicks at the Garden last night.
With their MVP candidate officially hitting the skids, complaining of fatigue after his worst outing as a Knick, the club sunk below the .500 mark for the first time since late November after losing to the Magic 111-99.
Falling out of a playoff spot still is mathematically possible and not as outrageous a thought as a week ago, especially if Stoudemire continues to hit the wall and the Knicks lose confidence by the minute.
The Knicks fell two games behind No. 6 Philadelphia, and are just 3½ games from falling to the eighth and final playoff seed. The Knicks are 6½ games out of falling from the playoffs with 11 games to play.
“It’s not good,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But our goal is to get in the playoffs.”
After once being as high as seven games over .500 in January, the Knicks have lost four in a row, seven of eight games and have plummeted to 35-36. They also are 7-10 since the Carmelo Anthony blockbuster, and their chances of snapping a streak of nine losing seasons is in danger.
Stoudemire had no lift and missed a ton of mid-range jumpers, and the Knicks had no answer for Howard. The Magic’s center rose up for 33 points, making 11 of 15 buckets as the Knicks folded again in a 32-21 fourth quarter as boos rained down at the Garden in the final stages.
It was Howard’s first appearance at the Garden this season as the original November game was postponed because of an asbestos scare. The Knicks haven’t been under .500 since Nov. 27.
“I think Amar’e is tired,” D’Antoni said. “We’ve worn him down and tonight it showed. I thought he had heavy legs and didn’t have the balance that he normally does.”
Stoudemire was 2-for-16 and had just four points early in the fourth quarter. He finished 6-for-20 for a season-low 13 points and admitted to being spent in the first quarter because of the heavy March schedule. The Knicks have played 14 games this month.
“A lot of games in a few nights catches up with you at times,” Stoudemire said. “I think we all have fatigue factor setting in. It’s a crazy month for us. We’re feeling the amount of games in this month. I started getting a little tired in the first quarter actually. I tried to push through it. I don’t think I played a month this hectic in my career.”
That busy month hasn’t helped the Anthony adjustment because the team has had little practice time. Nevertheless, D’Antoni, sensing his team’s fatigue, called off practice today.
Anthony, who made his successful Knicks debut exactly a month ago, finished with 24 points in front of his boyhood idol, Bernard King, but scored just three points in the fourth quarter. He also had nine assists.
Chauncey Billups, who sustained a serious thigh injury from a Howard pick in their last meeting on March 1, scored just two of his 17 points in the second half.
“I just think when you’re struggling and when you’re in a slump, the team just kind of starts to play not to lose,” Billups said.
“We need to relax, we are putting to much pressure on ourselves,” said Anthony, whose five stitches won’t be removed until tomorrow. “We need to relax and have fun. I don’t think there’s no fun in the game and we need to bring it back.”
The monstrous Howard, a 2012 free agent who has shown no inclination he wants to live in the Big Apple, showed at least he loves the Garden’s orange paint most of the evening.
The Magic began the fourth quarter on a 11-4 spree, scoring nine straight points. Richardson hit a 3-pointer to put the magic up 86-82, and Gilbert Arenas hit back-to-back jumper to drive the Orlando lead to 90-82.
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Before the game, Howard said the March 1 pick on Billups was not dirty and needled the Knicks point guard about his slow recovery because of his age.
Howard, whom Magic coach Patrick Ewing said deserves the MVP this season, appeared to stick out his leg out as he set a pick on the 34-year-old Billups.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Howard said. “Let’s get that out of the way. I set a regular screen. He just happened to hit my knee. I’m not a dirty player. I’m not a dirty person. I would never try to hurt anybody. One, he’s getting older — a little bump here and there might take a long time to heal than someone my age.”