The Knicks wrapped up a five-game road trip that featured wild highs and disappointing lows, narrowly defeating the Charlotte Hornets 99-98 on Friday afternoon.
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– New York scored just 15 points in the opening quarter for the second straight game as it trailed by eight points after 12 minutes. Poor shooting (6-for-16 from the field; 2-for-7 from three) and turnovers were to blame for the Knicks, who looked sloppy most of the afternoon. Jalen Brunson scored more than half of New York’s first quarter points with eight.
– The Knicks’ deficit reached a game-high 10 points early in the second quarter, but the offense was able to rebound from there as New York scored 31 points to make it a three-point game at halftime. Jalen Brunson scored six points on two three-pointers late in the quarter, Karl-Anthony Towns he was seven Miles McBride added five off the bench and Josh Hart a OG Anunoby each had four apiece.
-Despite not shooting the ball particularly well all afternoon (44.4 percent from the field; 37.5 percent from deep), the Knicks did plenty on offense in the second half. In a thrilling third quarter, New York kept it close, tied it and even took a few short leads near the end.
– be silent for most of the game, Mikal Bridges scored six of his eight points in the third period, and his 3-pointer with 4:16 left in the quarter tied the game at 58. Brunson had six points of his own, four assists, two rebounds and a block. His assist on Hart’s late 3-pointer would have given New York the lead heading into the fourth quarter, but KJ Simpson drilled a deep 3-pointer with 6.1 seconds left to give the Hornets a 72-71 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
-The game was close for much of the last quarter until the Knicks started to pull away a bit and lead by as many as six points. Charlotte finished the game 10-5 – including a Josh Green three-pointer as time expired — to make it interesting, but Brunson was able to knock down enough free throws late to secure the win.
-Brunson finished with a game-high 31 points, while Towns (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Hart (13 points, 12 rebounds) each had double-doubles.
-New York, which entered the game with the third-best turnover rate (12.3 percent) in the league, won despite a 19-13 turnover loss.
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What next
The Knicks return home to begin a four-game homestand beginning on Sunday, December 1 against the New Orleans Pelicans at 6:00 p.m.