Knicks survive for a one-point win against the Charlotte Hornets
New York Knicks guard Josh Hart rebounds against Charlotte Hornets guard Josh Green during the first half on Friday. Credit: AP/Nell Redmond
CHARLOTTE — On Black Friday, the Knicks found themselves matched up with a discount rack version of the Charlotte Hornets. And then they found themselves scrambling to survive.
Not long after they’d finished off the team Thanksgiving dinner, they took the floor at the Spectrum Center for a noon game and the Knicks trailed much of the game before finally clawing their way to a 99-98 win.
The victory gave them a 3-2 record on the five-game, 10-day trip and allowed them to take some positives out of what had threatened to be the worst loss of the season.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 31 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Josh Hart chipped in 13 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. But the Knicks got struggling offensive performances again from Mikal Bridges, who shot 3-for-10, and OG Anunoby, who went 3-for-11 for 8 points.
For the second straight game the Knicks scored just 15 points in the first quarter. But the previous one was against the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks. This was an injury-depleted Hornets squad missing LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Nick Richards, Mark Williams and Grant Williams — starting 6-foot-9 Moussa Diabate at center and a skeleton crew around him other than Brandon Miller.
The Knicks trailed, 23-15, after one and still were down, 49-46, at the half thanks to another example of being outhustled by the Hornets' bench pieces pushed into starring roles. Josh Green hitter a jumper with 1.1 seconds left in the half to give the Hornets the lead and Mikal Bridges' lazy inbounds pass was picked off by Green, who drained a turnaround jumper as time expired.
“Readiness to play,” Thibodeau stressed before the game began. “It’s a different start time, so I think you have to almost have a different strategy to get yourself ready to go. It’s part of the league. There’s all different start times. Sometimes it’s early early, sometimes it’s mid-afternoon, sometime it’s a late start. I think it’s huge in terms of preparation. You study the league you see how important the first quarter is, so being ready to play is a huge part of it.”
If a lesson was learned from the early start it didn’t reflect in the play as the Knicks took the floor in the third quarter and still couldn’t shake the Hornets. Josh Hart gave the Knicks a lead with 30.6 seconds left, draining a three-point field goal. But K.J. Simpson buried a three and the Knicks entered the fourth quarter down, 72-71.
The Knicks never led again until Brunson dropped in a jumper in the lane with 4:50 to play to go up, 86-85. Deuce McBride then stole the ball and broke away for a dunk and a three-point lead.
Josh Hart gave the Knicks a six-point lead, 94-88, on a cutting layup off a feed from Towns and the game seemed secured when Brunson hit two of three from the line with less than a minute remaining. But Diabate bounced in a dunk attempt and drew a foul on Brunson. He missed the free throw, but Cody Martin grabbed the rebound and was fouled, hitting one of two and pulling Charlotte within 96-93 with 47 seconds to play.
The Hornets trailed by just two after a pair of free throws by Miller with 11.4 seconds left. But Brunson delivered one more time, hitting two free throws with 8.6 seconds left for a four-point lead.
Green hit a three-pointer as time expired for the final margin.
“I say this to our guys all the time,” Thibodeau said. “You can’t get here without being a great player. One through 18, the players are very talented, so you have to respect that and you have to understand everyone’s playing for something. The urgency and intensity has to be great.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
