ORLANDO, Fla. — The Knicks hit Orlando at a magical time Thursday with the home franchise spinning out of control due to Dwight Howard’s confirmed mutiny on coach Stan Van Gundy.
After Thursday night, the Magic should keep Van Gundy and fire Howard, who either wasn’t trying, his back was stiff or he was simply intimidated by Knicks center Tyson Chandler.
Chandler’s utter domination of Howard was just one of the wonderful events as the Knicks destroyed the Magic for the second straight meeting, 96-80, battering Howard’s image in a nationally televised humiliation at Amway Center.
The victory was a big bounce-back from Tuesday’s fourth-quarter collapse at Indiana when the Knicks squandered a 17-point lead.
“It’s a big road win for us, we should’ve had two of them but we’ll take this one,’’ said Carmelo Anthony, who scored 19 points.
Chandler’s physical defense on Howard had him scoreless at halftime. He scored his first points with 3.5 seconds left in the third quarter to scattered boos. Howard finished with eight points — six meaningless ones in the fourth with the game out of reach — eight rebounds and five turnovers. He also was booed when he missed two free throws late in the third quarter.
“Anytime I play against a guy like that, I want to try to take him out,’’ Chandler said. “I know for my team’s success, I can’t let him get off.’’
The Knicks never had an answer in the years before Chandler, who has never made the All-Star Game. Thursday night, Chandler rolled to the bucket and received passes that resulted in a handful of ferocious dunks. Two of them occurred off possessions in which he saved by tipping back an offensive rebounds to the perimeter. Chandler finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, making 6 of 9 buckets.
“I was aware [of the controversy], but I felt they would come out and play hard and aggressive,’’ Chandler said. “I just felt we were aggressive tonight and once we took them out of their comfort zone, doubts crept into their mind. When you go through turmoil, that kind of thing happens.’’
Afterward, Van Gundy said he met with Howard and general manager Otis Smith and they will move on from the controversy.
Maybe the Knicks beat a dysfunctional club, but it was big in the standings. The Knicks (28-27) still are fighting for a playoff berth and also have an outside chance of winning the Atlantic Division and moving above the unenviable seventh and eighth seed. They crawled 2 ½ games behind first-place Boston and increased their edge over Milwaukee to 1½ games for the last playoff spot.
On this road trip, Chandler faced Roy Hibbert and Howard, the two Eastern All-Star centers, and dominated both of them. Chandler admitted it is “motivation.’’
“I’m just glad he’s on our team,’’ interim coach Mike Woodson said.
Chandler got offensive help from J.R. Smith, who heeded the words of Woodson to become more consistently aggressive. Smith, off his ejection against the Pacers, sparked the club off the bench, firing in 13 points of his 15 points in the first half when the Knicks took a 56-44 lead. Smith made 6 of 12 shots and had a season-high 9 assists.
“He’s an offensive player and I need him to score,’’ said Woodson, who moved to 10-3 as coach.
In the morning, Van Gundy, shockingly, confirmed a TV report that Howard had asked Magic management to fire Van Gundy, causing an awkwardness that lasted into the game.
Anthony, who knows something about coaching battles, chatted up Howard for a few moments after the final buzzer. Anthony said Chandler’s defense was the cause of Howard’s demise but admitted the Magic appeared less than vigorous.
“Absolutely, you can see it,’’ Anthony said. “You still have guys playing hard but at the end of the day, when there’s stuff like that surrounding the team, it can be very distracting.’’
But the Knicks made it distracting for the Magic. With point guard Baron Davis’ knee acting up along with his hamstring, Woodson gave substantial minutes to once-forgotten Toney Douglas, who looked sharp in notching 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting with six assists. Douglas was the starting point guard when the season began, but had fallen off the map during Linsanity.
“That whole locker room is so proud of Toney,’’ Woodson said. Indeed, as Douglas was surrounded by reporters, some of his teammates chanted “TD.’’
The Knicks are 5-2 since Amar’e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin were injured. Stoudemire is at least a week from returning, with a source saying his chances of returning Wednesday for the Milwaukee showdown is nil.
They carried a 76-61 lead into the fourth quarter and only got stronger.
“We didn’t collapse in the fourth like in Indiana,’’ Woodson said. “We learned from it.’’
With 1:20 left, the fans belted out a loud chant of “Let’s Go Knicks’’ as the Knicks felt totally at home in Disney City.