Knicks Swat Hornets For 4th Straight Win

There’s an undeniable buzz around the New York Knicks.

New York withstood another early challenge from the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night before rolling to a 125-101 victory at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks (14-8) earned their fourth consecutive victory to tie their longest streak of the season and the second-longest active tally in the East behind five for Atlanta. New York has also won nine of its past eleven and is now a season-best six games over .500.

Having survived a one-point decision in the Queen City last week, the Knicks seemed destined for another challenge from the Hornets, who silenced MSG with an early 13-point lead. New York narrowed the lead to two by the end of the first and officially pulled away with a dominant 38-16 advantage in the third period.

Thursday was yet another dominant night for the Knicks’ starting five: Karl-Anthony Towns posted another dominant double-double with 27 points and 16 rebounds while Josh Hart (18 points, 10 rebounds) was four assists short of his second straight triple-double.

Towns and OG Anunoby provided high-flying antics on both sides of the ball, erasing an early deficit with dunks and defense, as the latter had a tally in nearly every box score category, notching 25 points, six rebounds, four steals, and two assists and blocks each. Jalen Brunson played only 27 minutes on Thursday but shot 6-of-8 from the field (including 5-of-6 from three) en route to 24 tallies, all but five earned in the openng period.

Rounding out the starters’ antics was a near-complete game for Mikal Bridges, who had 19 with a team-best seven assists. The Knicks’ advantage of plus-26 on the scoreboard with Bridges on the floor was also tops in the game, making him plus-99 over the past three games. Off the bench, Miles McBride had 10 points while Precious Achiuwa had four rebounds and two points in his season debut after missing the first 21 games of the year due to a preseason injury.

Charlotte (6-16) endured damage long before its seventh consecutive loss became official, as Tidjane Salaun’s night ended after only two minutes due to an injury. With top scorer LaMelo Ball sidelined, Brandon Miller paced Charlotte with 26 in defeat.

The Knicks wrap up a four-game homestand on Saturday when the Toronto Raptors make a divisional visit (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).

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