Orlando missed its last 12 shots from the field, Chris Childs' driving layup with 12.3 seconds remaining gave New York its only lead, and the Knicks held on Tuesday night to beat the Orlando Magic 85-84.

"This was the most challenged we've been to win a game with mental toughness," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said after his team overcame a poor shooting performance that included one field goal in an eight-minute span. "We could've gotten frustrated with so many misses of wide-open shots."

Latrell Sprewell and Kurt Thomas, who started in place of the injured Marcus Camby, each had 22 points for New York, which fell behind by 16 in the opening quarter and spent the rest of the game catching up.

Childs scored the game-winning basket off a turnover. The Knicks, second in the NBA in scoring defense (84.7 points), forced the turnover after Orlando's Tracy McGrady inbounded the ball at midcourt to Darrell Armstrong.

Trapped between two defenders, Armstrong leaped to try to throw the ball back to McGrady. But the pass was altered by 7-footer Travis Knight, and Erick Strickland dove to deflect the ball to Childs.

"This game is so funny," said Childs. "I made a turnover in the fourth quarter -- a costly turnover -- so the ball ended up back in my hands and I was able to redeem myself."

Armstrong and McGrady missed jumpers in the closing seconds. Pat Garrity rebounded McGrady's air ball, but his layup rolled off the rim at the buzzer.

McGrady led the Magic with 25 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. John Amaechi had 17 points and Armstrong finished with 17.

"We had every break in this game that you can use, every single one," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said. "Unforced turnovers really hurt us. They didn't give us great pressure or anything like that. The only thing we needed to do was hold onto the ball."

The Magic lost for the sixth time in eight games since Grant Hill went on the injured list to rehabilitate the surgically repaired ankle he broke during last season's playoffs. The Knicks played their second straight game without Camby, who was in uniform but did not play because of a sprained left ankle.

The Knicks got back into the game by playing tough defense. After allowing 53 points in the first half, they held the Magic to 20 points in the third quarter and just 11 in the fourth when Orlando missed 20 of 24 shots.

Orlando led by 16 before Sprewell's 10 second-quarter points helped the Knicks trim their deficit to 53-45 at the half. McGrady had nine points in the second quarter and nine more in the third to help the Magic stay ahead 73-67 going into the final quarter.

New York pulled within 73-72 on two free throws by Allan Houston with 8:08 to go. But Orlando ended a four-minute drought to begin to the fourth on Garrity's three-point play and built the lead to 82-74 before the Knicks began their last push.

Game Notes
The Magic have used seven different starting lineups in their 12 games. The unit that opened the game against the Knicks -- McGrady, Armstrong, Amaechi, Bo Outlaw and Michael Doleac -- is 1-2 ... Attendance was announced as 14,673 -- about 2,500 below capacity at the TD Waterhouse Centre. It was the first home game against New York that Orlando hasn't sold out in 22 visits by the Knicks ... Houston, averaging a team-leading 19.8 points for the Knicks, was held to five points on 1-for-9 shooting.