The Hornets were picked cold by a revengeful New York team, deprived of Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle but who managed a dream start to quickly take off and hold their advantage until the end.
Tom Thibodeau’s troops were able to make the difference thanks to their rough defense and their insolent 3-point skill. After six minutes of play in the last quarter, it showed 50% success, 12/24 behind the arc!
First there was a 19-4 fed by the missiles of Alec Burks, Obi Toppin, Evan Fournier and Immanuel Quickley which quickly calmed the assembly at the end of the first act (18-34). Even Taj Gibson went there from his 3-pointers at the last second of the period (24-40)! Still from a distance, RJ Barrett and Miles McBride quickly increased the gap to +20, the biggest of the match (29-49).
The Hornets tried to maintain the suspense by going through LaMelo Ball to try to ignite their attack and by lining up a 7-0 before the break (56-69). In the third quarter, it was then on three dunks, signed by the Ball-Bridges-Plumlee trio, that the locals managed to drop below the ten-point gap (74-83).
RJ Barrett and Evan de Fournier from afar, as well as Immanuel Quickley, then revived the Knicks, who returned to +12 with 12 minutes remaining (87-99).
Charlotte continued to believe in it until the very end of the fourth quarter, when Obi Toppin chained two flights then a defensive rebound to send RJ Barrett to 2+1 on the counterattack, bringing the score to 102-120 . This time, James Borrego’s troops surrendered and the Knicks were able to savor their victory, 121 to 106.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– The start of the Knicks’ cannon match. It was a real deluge that fell on Charlotte’s defense at the start of the match. New Yorkers’ shots from behind the arc fell in from all sides and the Hornets often might only see the damage. Even Taj Gibson had fun passing two 3-point baskets! This crazy address from afar thus allowed Tom Thibodeau’s men to acquire a comfortable lead that they were able to manage until the end.
– End of series for the Hornets. In the fight to clinch the best possible place in “play-in”, the Hornets missed the opportunity to sign a 6th consecutive success. On arrival, this setback might be expensive in view of the rest of the final sprint, with in particular Utah, Brooklyn and Denver appearing on the menu.
– Evan Fournier’s record. With four new baskets scored behind the arc last night, the Frenchman is now the franchise record holder (218) for the number of 3-point baskets scored in a season, surpassing John Starks who stopped at 217.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ RJ Barrett. In the absence of Julius Randle, the Canadian was able to raise his level of play by representing a real poison for the defense of Charlotte throughout the match to finish at 30 points, 10/19 in shooting.
✅ LaMelo Ball. The only Hornets player to have really tried to turn things around, especially in the first half when the gap swelled at the rate of 3-pointers passed by the Knicks. The leader was aggressive towards the circle and rather in a good evening from afar (6/14) to finish with a new full game with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
⛔ La paire Plumlee-Harrell. Problems at position 5 have been recurrent in Charlotte this season. The contribution of Mason Plumlee (7 points, 9 rebounds), and Montrezl Harrell (5 points, 2 rebounds) will still have been insufficient this evening, especially in the absence of the Randle-Robinson-Noel trio opposite.
THE FOLLOWING
Charlotte (37-36) : the Hornets will host Utah this Friday
New York (31-42) : the Knicks continue in Miami this Friday
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