Kon Knueppel had 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on Thursday to help the Charlotte Hornets earn a 114-103 victory over the visiting New York Knicks.
LaMelo Ball added 22 points and Brandon Miller scored 21 for Charlotte (39-34), which won its fifth straight game. Coby White and Miles Bridges chipped in 17 points each for the Hornets, who sit in a three-way tie with the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jalen Brunson led New York (48-26) with 26 points and 13 assists, followed by OG Anunoby’s 17 points and Josh Hart’s 16. Mikal Bridges scored 14 points and Karl-Anthony Towns tallied 13 for the Knicks, who had their seven-game winning streak snapped.
The Hornets’ 10-point halftime lead grew to 77-62 on Ball and Knueppel’s back-to-back 3-pointers.
New York narrowed the deficit to 11, but Grant Williams’ triple stamped a 7-0 run to close the third and give the Hornets a 94-76 lead entering the final quarter.
Anunoby’s trey pulled the Knicks within 13, before Moussa Diabate’s dunk at the 9:39 mark of the fourth began a 7-0 spurt that gave Charlotte its largest lead to that point at 104-83.
Brunson’s three-point play and Hart’s five straight points cut the deficit to 10 with 2:20 left, but Bridges’ dunk with 40 seconds remaining sealed the comfortable win.
Charlotte grabbed an early 10-point lead on Knueppel’s layup midway through the first quarter.
New York answered with a 20-10 run to knot the score at 34 on Mohamed Diawara’s 3-pointer. Charlotte shot 70% (14-for-20) from the field in the first quarter to take a 38-36 lead.
After Anunoby’s mid-range jumper brought New York within a point, Bridges’ three-point play sparked an 8-0 run to give the Hornets a 58-49 lead.
Miller’s 3-pointer and White’s jumper closed the opening half to give the Hornets a 65-55 halftime lead. Bridges and Miller each had 13 first-half points for Charlotte, while Brunson’s 17 paced the Knicks.
