Son of Former Knick Has Magic Night at MSG

For New York Knicks fans, it felt like 1994 again in the worst way possible on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

New York fell victim to a 103-94 defeat at the hands of the Orlando Magic on a night where Cole Anthony, the son of ex-Knick Greg, played a major role in the modern edition’s demise: stepping into Central Florida’s fractured starting five, the younger Anthony paced the Magic with 24 points and four assists in a statement victory in front of his family.

Monday’s win was the latest impressive display from the mangled Magic (22-16), who continue to maintain a spot in the Eastern Conference’s top four despite lengthy medical departures for franchise faces Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Mo Wagner.

“[Head coach Jamahl Mosley] has said this to us mad times: we have enough. We are enough,” Anthony said in his postgame interview with Kendra Douglas of FanDuel Sports Network Florida. “We just proved it again tonight, that we have enough. Bodies down, cool, we’ve still got bodies that [are] active and can get after it.”

Greg Anthony was the Knicks’ first-round pick in 1991 after a sterling collegiate career at UNLV and partook in famous run to the 1994 NBA Finals. Known for his staunch defensive efforts, Greg played four seasons in New York before he was chosen by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1995 expansion draft. It was the second of six stops in an 11-year NBA career that also ran through Seattle, Portland, Chicago, and Milwaukee.

In Knicks lore, Greg Anthony is perhaps best-known for a 16-point relief effort that set the tone for the classic 1994 conference finals against Indiana. His son came through in a similar step-up effort on Monday.

Granted his second start of the season with Jalen Suggs added to an expansive injury report, the Archbishop Malloy alum seemed to have the answer for every would-be Knick rally. Fourteen of his points came in the second half, most of them earned on a 3-of-4 output from three despite shooting less than 30 percent with an extra point on the line entering Monday play.

Beyond his relative health, this season has been an undeniable struggle for Anthony, a 2020 first-rounder that endured the most brutal periods of the Magic’s build: entering Monday, he was averaging career-lows in nearly every major category including minutes (13.0) and points (6.5), as his role as spell point guard behind Suggs was more or less usurped by second-year lottery pick Anthony Black.

But Anthony has risen when the Magic have needed him: the 35 points he had off the bench in a Dec. 21 win over Miami are the most any reserve has scored in the NBA this season. When Suggs went down on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors, Anthony dished out 11 assists and was a team-best plus-13 next to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in a relief effort.

He was in no mood to hog the spotlight on Monday, where he literally followed in the footsteps of his father at MSG.

“It was a team effort tonight,” Anthony told Douglas. “It wasn’t just one person, everyone contributed. We played a great team game, low turnovers, and we guarded. I think we did a great job, especially on Jalen Brunson. Mikal [Bridges] got rolling a little bit but I think we did a great job containing them and just getting a great win in a hostile environment.”

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