The Charlotte Hornets 5-game winning streak was halted with a bad loss to the New York Knicks, 121-106, on Wednesday.
With a win, Charlotte could have tied Brooklyn for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, after the Nets fell to the Memphis Grizzlies. But the Hornets never looked totally interested and never held a lead.
The Hornets dug themselves into another early hole. They played lackadaisical defense and allowed the Knicks to catch fire. New York scored 40 first quarter points on 15-of-22 shooting from the field (68.2%) and 8-of-14 from three, mostly on wide-open looks. The Hornets gave themselves a 16 point deficit, 40-24, to come back from over the next three quarters.
“We have a number of guys who can get into the paint and a number of guys who can shoot it as well,” RJ Barrett said. “So when we can get in there and trust each other to make the right plays, that is tough to guard.”
The Hornets lost Taj Gibson in the corner for a shot from the great beyond to open the second quarter. The lead expanded to 20 points, as the Knicks hit their 11th shot from deep, less than two minutes into the quarter. Both teams enjoyed separate runs, but the half ended with the Hornets trailing by 13. LaMelo Ball scored 14 in the quarter and his intensity on both ends of the floor was the main reason the Hornets were able to chip away at the Knicks lead, 69-56.
The Knicks went on a 7-0 run to begin the second half. However, the Hornets responded with high energy plays and points in the paint to cut the lead to 11. Ball was feeling it from three-point range, connecting on his sixth and scoring his 32nd point of the contest, getting the Hornets within six, with two minutes remaining in the third.
As well as the offense was clicking, the defense still left a lot to be desired. The Knicks continued to get wide open shots, with little resistance, even though they did not convert at the same rate as the first half. They did enough to keep the Hornets at arm’s length. Going into the fourth quarter, the Hornets trailed by 12, 99-87.
Terry Rozier and the Knicks traded threes to begin the fourth quarter, as the Hornets attempted to make up ground without Ball. Borrego said the beginning of the fourth quarter was Ball’s “rest period.” Rozier tried to do too much and it resulted in some bad offensive possessions until Jalen McDaniels and Isaiah Thomas hit a pair of three-pointers, giving the Hornets some life and cut the lead to eight. Ball was on the sideline for more than six minutes, despite his offensive outburst, and the Hornets faltered on the court without him.
Miles Bridges did not check into the game for the struggling Jalen McDaniels until the 4:26 mark. To that juncture, the Hornets reserve had done next to nothing to get back into the game. The stars for the Hornets did not have much time to make a difference in the outcome.
The Knicks kept their composure. Obi Toppin contributed back-to-back dunks in the final two minutes, one off a lob from Gibson, to seal the victory.
“The important thing for us is to play winning basketball, play the right way, play hard and play unselfishly,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You can deal with a missed shot if it’s the right shot. But we made a number of plays tonight where a guy passed up a good shot and we ended up getting a better shot — and that’s winning basketball.”
Barrett led the Knicks with 30 points. He had three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Toppin had a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards, along with six dimes, one steal and 1 block. Alec Burks finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Gibson added 12 points, five boards, one assist and one steal off the bench. Julius Randle was out with right quadriceps tendon soreness.
Ball had a game-high 32 points for the Hornets. He also had nine boards, five assists and one steal. Rozier scored 18 points, with three boards, three helpers and one rejection. Bridges finished with 15 points, five rebounds, nine dimes, two steals and one block. Washington scored 10 points, had two rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block.
Said Hornets coach James Borrego: “We didn’t come out with the aggressive mindset we needed. … Giving up 40 points in the first quarter, that has to get cleaned up.”
The Knicks travel to Miami on Friday to face Jimmy Butler and the Heat. The Hornets host Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz on Friday.
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