It was as if the NBA All-Star Game had never ended for Orlando Magic superstar Tracy McGrady, what with the way he rode the momentum from Sunday into Tuesday night and single-handedly destroyed the New York Knicks' once-proud defense.

The only thing missing from McGrady's awe-inspiring 36-point, eight-assist, seven-rebound effort was the off-the-backboard dunk that he unveiled in Sunday's NBA exhibition game. Otherwise, he did a little bit of everything in Orlando's 122-114 pounding of the Knicks before 14,257 fans at the TD Waterhouse Centre.

"After the show he put on in the All-Star Game and the way he played (Tuesday), he might just explode now he's so hot,'' McGrady's teammate, Mike Miller, said. "He wants to win the league MVP now. And if we keep playing like this and winning, he just might get the thing.''

The second half of the season began just as the first half ended for the Magic, which improved to 26-24. The night was a particularly profitable one as five teams ahead of the Magic in the standings -- Milwaukee, Toronto, Indiana, New Jersey and Detroit -- all lost.

"I was talking to guys at the All-Star Game and they were all bragging about what they were going to do in the second half of the season,'' McGrady said. "I keep telling everybody that we've finished our West Coast trips and the rest of the records out there are going to fall.

"It's do or die time for us right now. We've got 32 games left, and I want to really go out and lead this team by example every night. Hopefully, they will continue to follow me.''

McGrady had more than enough help as the Magic systematically picked apart New York's spotty defense. Pat Garrity was nearly flawless from the field, making 11 of 15 shots (six 3-pointers) for a season-best 29 points. Miller also added 18 points and a career-high 10 assists.

Refreshed from a week's worth of rest, the Magic made it look easy against the smallish Knicks. Orlando hit 57 percent of its shots and drained 10 3-pointers.

"I was kind of surprised after having so much time off that we moved the ball so well,'' Garrity said. "They really had nobody to guard Tracy and they had to double-team him. That just left us plenty of wide-open shots.''

Power forward Kurt Thomas led New York with 23 points and 13 rebounds. New York (19-29) still is without center Marcus Camby because of a hip injury.

Orlando will have little time to rest with a game against Atlantic Division rival Miami tonight in South Florida. Orlando defeated the Heat 92-87 two weeks ago in a testy game that saw the Magic get whistled for four technical fouls.

The Magic defeated the Knicks for the second time this season, but this one was nothing like the improbable rally in New York back in December. In that game, Orlando fell behind by 16 and trailed by 13 with 4 minutes to play, only to rally to a 94-90 victory, arguably the team's biggest win of the year.

Orlando ran away from New York in the third quarter, turning a close game into a laugher. When McGrady was not slicing up the Knicks inside and Garrity was not hurting them from afar, the Magic were beating New York down the floor for easy baskets. Four consecutive run-out baskets -- all set up by steals -- put Orlando up by 19.

How easy were things against a New York team that used to pride itself on its defense and grit? Orlando had 98 points by the end of the third quarter and made 40 of its first 67 shots (59.7 percent).

"I don't know how much of that was great offense and how much of it was bad defense,'' Magic coach Doc Rivers joked. "We don't mind it when teams want to run with us. But really, the difference was the defense we played in the third quarter. I told the guys at halftime that the first team to play defense first would win the game.''

Orlando led 60-59 in a first half that featured very little defense from either side. Orlando got the Knicks into a faster-paced game, hit six 3-pointers and shot 56 percent in the first two quarters.

The game looked as though it had the makings of a rout in the early going as McGrady scored at will and somehow managed to duplicate his play in the NBA's All-Star Game. Feeding off his momentum from the 24-point all-star effort, McGrady was clearly the aggressor in the early going. He made 6 of his 7 shots for 12 first-quarter points, shredding the defense of Allan Houston and Shandon Anderson.

"Tracy's energy level was as high as I've seen it since the playoffs last year,'' Garrity said. "I think that all-star performance put him on a national level. Now he realizes just how good he really is and how important he is to this team.''

But Rivers rested McGrady early in the second quarter, a move that seemed to take away his aggression. He did not score in the second quarter, but he did set up others when New York's defense collapsed around him. McGrady had five first-half assists, many of them to Garrity for open jumpers. Garrity hit all four of his 3-pointers in the first half and had 16 points by intermission.

Said McGrady: "I wonder what their gameplan was -- leave Pat Garrity open? Dang! We'll take it every time.''

Orlando activated Patrick Ewing Tuesday, but Rivers planned on not using the veteran center because of his lack of conditioning following five weeks on the injured list. But he turned to the 39-year-old 7-footer in the second quarter, hoping he could help the Magic on the glass. In all, Ewing played 9 minutes and contributed five points and three rebounds.