Knicks' road woes continue, bench struggles in 115-98 loss to Hornets

A lot has been made of the Knicks' schedule, and their fatigue, and it showed Thursday as they dropped the second of their back-to-back, 115-98 to the Hornets in Charlotte.

New York could not feed off of the large contingent of Knicks fans in attendance as they were outplayed and outworked by the Hornets (18-51). Without Jalen Brunson, the Knicks' offense was flat and the team now falls to 3-4 without their captain.

Here are the takeaways...

-The Knicks got off to another slow start, missing their first three shots and allowing the Hornets to get out to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes. But the Knicks would clamp down on defense, and get their offense going through OG Anunoby as they went on a 15-4 run to take the lead for the first time with six minutes to go in the first.

However, the Knicks' offense would go ice cold in the final minutes. The combination of misses and turnovers allowed the Hornets to go out on a 12-0 run and end the first on top, 27-19. The Knicks would not score a point over the last five minutes. Anunoby led the Knicks with 10 points but the offense as a whole was not good, shooting 7-for-20 in the opening frame.

Mark Williams and Jusuf Nurkic took advantage of the Knicks' lack of size with Mitchell Robinson not playing due to injury management. Both centers scored six points each and grabbed seven combined rebounds, three offensive.

-The second quarter went a lot like the first with cold shooting from the Knicks. In the middle of the quarter, the Knicks went without a field goal for four minutes while the Hornets continued to beat New York on the glass.

Towns would hit back-to-back threes to break the Knicks' drought and give the team some life but New York could not cut more into the Hornets' lead as they went into halftime down 54-44.

Only four Knicks scored in the first half with Miles McBride being the only starter to go scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting. The guard was questionable heading into the game with a groin contusion, but he simply could not find his range. The Knicks bench went a combined 0-for-5 and didn't score a point.

New York was also outrebounded 27-17 at halftime.

-McBride would find his game early in the third, making his first shots and finding his teammates for early scores. On the defensive end, the Knicks found their intensity just like in Wednesday's game. New York would cut Charlotte's lead to five but whenever the Knicks made a run, the Hornets would make a timely three, or get to the free-throw line.

The Knicks' frustration bubbled over in the waning minutes of the third when Towns went hard to the basket and thought he had an and-one. The Knicks center was demonstrative toward the official and was assessed a technical foul. Towns wouldn't shoot his first free throw of the game until 18 seconds left in the third quarter.

-The Knicks' bench was being outscored 32-0 heading when Cam Payne hit a three with 10:55 left in the game for the bench's first points. It didn't amount to much as every Knicks run would be extinguished by a Hornets three or a run of Charlotte's own. With two minutes left in the game, and down 14 points, Tom Thibodeau emptied his bench.

-The Hornets outrebounded the Knicks 52-38 and were better offensively. Charlotte collectively shot 49 percent including 15-of-32 from three while the Knicks shot just 40 percent and 10-of-39 from downtown.

Charlotte's bench outscored the Knicks', 37-11.

Anunoby (25) and Towns (24) led the way for the Knicks but it was not nearly enough. LaMelo Ball had a team-high 25 points including going 5-for-10 from three.

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks get some much-needed days off before returning to The Garden on Saturday to take on the Washington Wizards. Tip is set for 8 p.m.

B2B triples for KAT!

(via @nyknicks) pic.twitter.com/SDBEfC1qSp— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) March 21, 2025