Well the glory and swagger of a 27 point victory over the powerful Suns while holding them to less than 100 pts for the first time in their short season, has worn off. The Knicks took their momentum and confidence, shoved it in a suitcase and left it at baggage claim at the Orlando International Airport.

The Magic once again had their way with the Knickerbockers. Orlando’s 118-104 victory should come as no surprise to Knicks fans who watched that same Magic team beat them by twelve points just two games prior. Dwight Howard can’t be slowed down by anyone wearing a Knicks jersey and forced David Lee to work hard for his season’s worst 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Danilo Gallinari put up the only numbers worth mentioning despite shooting pretty poorly from the floor (5-14 FG). While I’m not one for individual numbers, the Rooster gives Knicks fans their only glimpse of excitement and since their collaborative team effort is about as impressive as a monkey eating a banana, I’ll continue to focus on good performances from the young fella.

Gallinari had an all around good game scoring 20pts, grabbing 7 rebounds, tossing 3 assists and snagging 4 steals. He’s been fun to watch, if not for his physical demeanor alone. The Knicks haven’t had a good draft pick turned star in a long, long time so to think that the Rooster could be crowing (couldn’t’ help myself) in a Knicks jersey as he improves to his highly anticipated “greatness” is kind of exciting.

It’s more confusing than sad that the Knicks would follow up such a satisfying win with an all too familiar losing performance. Although it could be a sign that the Knicks victory over Phoenix was more of a bad game for them than a good game for us I’m still surprised the Knicks didn’t put in a better effort Wednesday night. But I guess that’s my own fault.

As if it were routine the Knicks played boring offence and bad defense, especially in the middle quarters. They only managed to score 16 points in the second quarter. To put that in perspective if they were to score 16 points in each quarter they’d score 64 points a game. Then to make matters even worse they allowed the Magic to put up 41 in the third. That’s a losing recipe that can only result in a lousy performance.

Larry Hughes came back to earth against the Magic. He must have been just so astoundingly flabbergasted by his own performance and style of play Tuesday against the Suns (11pts 12ASSISTS in the victory), that he couldn’t have possibly repeated it. He must have gone home and thought if he started playing unselfishly and passed the ball instead of chucking up shots (2-9 FG against the Magic Wednesday), his mind would be so severely astonished that it would spontaneously combust and his body would implode.

I realize that’s a little harsh and a bit over the top but Larry Hughes infuriates me. The man wants to be the star, he wants everyone to talk about him and desire his abilities. He comes to the Knicks last season, does his normal all about me, look at me shoot routine and pleases no one but himself. Then he plays like he did on Tuesday against the suns. Unselfish, passing the ball, creating plays, taking only his best shots, not looking to do magic just looking to win and all anyone can talk about is Larry Hughes. He got it. Every basketball fan in New York City talked about him the next morning. Even the writers were giving him kudos in their morning articles. But that lasted about as long as Frederic Weis’ career (’99 Knick Draft pick that didn’t exactly pan out). That game against the Suns was obviously a fluke; Hughes still mostly sucks.

Team/Player Photos: WASHINGTON WIZARDS v NEW YORK KNICKS on Apr 13, 2010

The Knicks had the opportunity to win two games in a row against good opponents but failed. They may have played the Suns well and they probably will play other good teams closely and might even win a good game or too. But like Larry Hughes; they still mostly suck.