NEW YORK — Moe Harkless is only 19 years old.
Tobias Harris is 20.
Yet the two young New Yorkers are starting and playing prominent roles on a rebuilding Orlando Magic squad that lost to the Knicks, 106-94, Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Harris, a Long Island native who spent one year at Tennessee before entering the NBA Draft, went for 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting, and Harkless, a Queens native who was one-and-done at St. John’s, added 11 points and six rebounds.
Queens native Kyle O’Quinn (22) posted a double-double of 12 points and 14 boards off the bench, and fellow Queens native Doron Lamb (21) added six points.
Together, the four New Yorkers combined for 43 points and 28 rebounds, but the Magic (18-51) came up short again.
“It’s always good to play here in front of family and friends and to be actually playing also,” Harris told SNY.tv before the game.
“It’s been pretty exciting and I’m blessed to be in this situation.”
Harris and Lamb came to the Magic in the late-February trade that sent J.J. Redick to the Milwaukee Bucks.
“I was working out at the gym and the GM John Hammond called me so that’s how I found out,” Harris said.
“Yeah, I was a little bit surprised just by how it went down, the way it went down. To hear that you’re a vital part for the team’s future and then to be traded, but that’s the nature of the business and you can’t hold your head too long. You just have to get back up and be ready and this is a better situation for me here.”
In his last five starts entering the Knicks game, Harris was averaging averaging 14.1 points and 9.0 rebounds.
Harkless is averaging 6.8 points and 4.2 boards on the season, and Quinn is averaging 3.1 points and 2.6 rebounds.
Lamb said it was good to be traded with Harris and he’s glad to be with fellow New Yorkers on the Magic.
“I knew Tobias from when I was little,” said Lamb, who left Kentucky after his sophomore season and is averaging 2.7 points. “I played against him in AAU, and Moe the same way so I knew them from a long time ago so it ain’t nothing new.”
The Magic are missing several key pieces in Glen Davis (foot), Hedo Turkoglu (suspension) and Al Harrington (DNP), so they must rely on their young New Yorkers going forward.
“We definitely have a good young core on this team and the future definitely looks bright for us as a unit, as a team,” Harris said.
“We’re just going out every game and playing as hard as we can and building good habits.”
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For the record, Harris picked Louisville to win the NCAA Tournament and Lamb picked Kansas.
**For Video, Notes & Quotes on the game, read the NBA.com Notebook here.
