Julius Randle, Knicks fall to Paolo Banchero, playoff-hopeful Magic

This was the game the pundits wanted to see the Knicks win.

It was only three weeks ago that TNT’s Kenny “The Jet” Smith declared on live TV that the Knicks only ever have the “second-best player” every time they take the floor.

Smith, a two-time NBA champion turned studio basketball analyst used the Orlando Magic as an example.

He said the Knicks do not have a player better than Paolo Banchero.

Surely he was wrong.

In the first matchup between the two teams this season, Julius Randle proved as much.

Randle bullied the Magic all night. He scored 16 points in the first quarter alone. No player for Orlando had weight room work for the Knicks’ workhorse. His shoulder to the chest remains a lethal weapon.

Randle, however, was a one-man band against the Magic, and the Knicks lost in disappointing fashion, 117-107, on Friday.

By the end of the first quarter, Randle outscored the rest of his team, 16-13.

By the time he scored his 19th point at the 1:26 mark of the second quarter, his teammates had only mustered the same: 19 points combined.

The Knicks scored just 15 points in the second quarter. They entered the half down, 55-44, and trailed by as many as 20 in the third.

Orlando’s stifling defense is to blame.

Few teams have a better point-of-attack defense than the Magic, who deploy guard Anthony Black the full length of the floor defensively a la Patrick Beverley.

Plus the combined length between Banchero and the Wagner brothers, Franz and Mo, make the Magic a difficult team to score on — regardless if they entered Friday night losers of five of their last seven games.

Randle shot 16 of 25 (64%) from the field scoring 38 points. He was 0 of 4 from downtown. Call it brute force buckets.

The rest of the Knicks shot 22 of 61 (26%).

Jalen Brunson struggled against the Magic physical defense, shooting just 4 of 14 from the field and getting the lion’s share of his 20 points at the foul line, where he shot a perfect 12 of 12.

Donte DiVincenzo shot 1 of 7 from the field and missed all five of his attempts from three-point range.

Immanuel Quickley shot 4 of 12 from the field, and RJ Barrett finished 7 of 17 for 19 points but shot 2 of 9 for nine points in the first half.

And Isaiah Hartenstein got into early foul trouble — yet again — with Tom Thibodeau resorting to small-ball five minutes with Randle at center down the stretch.

Randle also made a regrettable decision with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter when the Knicks trailed by eight. On a Magic missed field goal, he shoved Franz Wagner, who was too far from the ball to recover the rebound careening out of bounds. Instead of letting the ball bounce out, or simply restraining himself from fouling Wagner, he sent the opponent to the line for two free throws.

Wagner made both to put the Magic up eight.

And Brunson’s attempts at attacking the rim came up short down the stretch. He was blocked from behind by Goga Bitazde, fouled with a no-call on a drive to the rim on the ensuing possession, then missed a bunny layup at the rim down six points with 1:11 to go in regulation.

Quickley also had a wide-open look from 27 feet out to make it a five-point game at the 1:41 mark, but it was an air ball.

Banchero scored 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field, and Franz Wagner scored a game-high 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting, as well. Jalen Suggs scored 21 points, and Black played 29 minutes of airtight defense.

It was enough to vault the Magic to a victory, even if Randle was the best player on the floor.

The Knicks now turn around to play the second leg of a back-to-back against an up-tempo Indiana Pacers team on Saturday.

Another team pundits will say they have the best player on the floor in an all-world playmaking guard in Tyrese Haliburton.

The Pacers play fast, and the Knicks will be on tired legs.