The Knicks and Magic are two of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference, and yesterday afternoon, they met in Madison Square Garden in what turned out to be a 106-100 Knicks win. It was New York’s 13th win in 14 games at home, and it solidified their hold on second place in the conference behind the Pistons.
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A lot of news came out of this game, the most important of which is that Magic forward Franz Wagner went down in the first quarter with what looked like a possibly serious knee injury. Wagner missed extended time last season with multiple injuries, and he’s been the team’s best player during their recent hot streak, so this would be a killer blow if he were to be out for a long time.
Maybe it was due to the sadness of losing a team leader, or the frustration of trailing late against a fellow contender, but Desmond Bane suffered a bout of temporary insanity in the fourth quarter. After Anthony Black stripped OG Anunoby as the Knicks forward went up for a fast-break layup, Bane grabbed the loose ball, and for some reason, fired a 100 mph fastball into Anunoby as he fell into the stanchion.
To be clear, it was Anunoby who was falling, not Bane, which is what makes the play so bizarre. Bane had full possession and could have easily turned up court. He did not need to save the ball or anything like that. But he did his best Chris Dudley impression after Shaq emasculated him back in the day by flinging the ball as hard as he could.
The guys on the Run It Back show had a laugh about the incident this morning as they replayed the clip, and they were just as bewildered as everyone else as to why Bane did what he did. “Everyone knows you do this if you’re falling out of bounds,” Chandler Parsons said. “This man took a step towards him, looked down his soul and pegged him.”
“Where was this falling out of bounds at?” Lou Williams laughed. “This looked like a very balanced man to me.”
“Why would you do that?” Michelle Beadle asked.
The best part of the clip has to be Anunoby’s bewildered face when he got up and lightly pushed Bane away. He had to have been so confused, and honestly, who can blame him?
DeMarcus Cousins was known for his willingness to get in a scrap or two back in his day, and he wanted a bigger reaction out of Anunoby. When Parsons tried to give Anunoby props for not escalating the situation, Cousins cut him off and said, “No, it’s not kudos to OG. Naw, naw, I’m not saying punch him in the face, but maybe slap the s*** out of him. That’s crazy.”
“I’m not saying punch him in the face, but maybe slap the sh*t out of him.”
Boogie Cousins was not feeling OG Anunoby’s response to Desmond Bane throwing the ball at him @MichelleDBeadle | @boogiecousins | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/dQnoNPGfgI
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) December 8, 2025
You never want to see a brawl break out at a game, but if ever there was a time for it, this was it. This is one of the craziest things you’ll ever see someone do in a basketball game at any level, and it probably did need a bigger response. All that makes sense is that Anunoby was so shocked and confused that he didn’t even know what to do.
Anunoby got the last laugh since his Knicks went on to win, and he did have a great response when asked about the incident after the game. “I should have caught it,” he said. Can we fast-forward to May and get a seven-game series between these teams?
