Knicks CRUSH Hornets. NY 125 Charlotte 101

December 6, 2024 LouV 2024-25 0

New York CRUSHED their 3rd straight team — this time blowing out Charlotte at Madison Square Garden, 125-101 on a Thursday night.

The Knicks came out sleeping, and allowed the Hornets to get out to a 32-20 lead.

And then they woke up.

The Knicks outscored Charlotte by 36 points the rest of the way.

  • Jalen Brunson was ON FIRE in the 1st quarter, scoring 16 of his 24 pts, and going 3-3 from 3 in the period;
  • Josh Hart was ON FIRE in the 2nd quarter, scoring 14 of his 18 points, and going 3-3 from 3 in the period; and
  • OG Anunoby was ON FIRE in the 3rd quarter, scoring 15 of his 25 points, and going 3-3 from 3 in the period.
  • And in between and in the 4th, Karl-Anthony Towns Dominated, and Mikal Bridges and Miles McBride were SNIPERS, scoring from everywhere.

Anunoby and Bridges and Hart were defensive demons: on one Charlotte possession Anunoby blocked a 3 on the right side of the court, then blocked a 3 on the left side of the court — as all of MSG and former Knick and shot-blocking legend Marcus Camby, sitting near courtside, chanted “OG, OG, OG!”

OG finished the night with 2 blocks and 4 steals.

“OG was unbelievable — he and Mikal,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “They got us going; their energy. Josh as well. And then KAT got going, and Jalen was Jalen. I thought they did a really good job; they set the tone in the 2nd half. But we have to be a 48-minute team. They gave me some stuff that I can look at.”

“We just finally woke up and started playing some defense,” said Josh Hart. “And offensively we just started playing faster and making decisive cuts, making them mess up on some of their switches and capitalized on that. In the second half we were physical, not allowing them to get comfortable. In the first half we allowed them to get comfortable.”

NY improves to 14-8; Charlotte drops to 6-16.

1. Brunson — ON FIRE — Carries Sleeping Knicks in Early Going

Charlotte came out strong and took command.

Tidjane Salaun, their 6’8 forward, started the scoring, and he was soon joined by Nick Richards, their 7’0 center averaging 11.9 ppg and 9.8 rpg — who missed the last game when the 2 teams met last week.

Vasilije Micic, their 6’3 shooting guard — who is in replacing LaMelo Ball out injured — and Josh Green were also getting buckets. And then Brandon Miller — their young superstar who was the #2 pick in last year’s draft — started to get bucket after bucket inside and out. Miller is a 6’7, 200-lb athletic slasher averaging 21.7 ppg.

The Hornets raced out to a 16-4 lead and led 20-7 after a Brandon Miller dunk with 6 minutes left in the quarter.

The dunk seemed to wake the Knicks up.

Mikal Bridges fed Josh Hart for an alley oop layup and then Jalen Brunson took over — hitting free throws and then 2 straight 3’s for the Knicks to make it 27-20 Charlotte.

Brandon Miller fired back with a couple of 3’s, and Brunson answered with a drive and a 3 sandwiching a Karl-Anthony Towns 3 and the Knicks were within 32-30 at the end of the quarter.

2. Hart ON FIRE in the 2nd Quarter

Charlotte regained their footing early in the 2nd quarter — re-taking a 7-pt lead at 51-44 after a Josh Green 3. They hung tough throughout the quarter, on 3-pt shooting by Seth Curry and Vasilije Micic, and inside scoring by Mark Williams — their backup center and #15 pick in the 2022 draft who also missed last week’s matchup between the teams due to injury.

But NY shut down Brandon Miller. And it was Josh Hart’s turn to be ON FIRE for the Knicks.

Charlotte’s strategy was to concentrate their defense on the other 4 Knick scoring zephyrs — Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and OG — and leave Hart open.

And Hart made them pay — hitting the open 3 to go 3 for 3 from 3 in the period.

Hart would get 14 of his 18 points in the quarter.

“I was getting wide-open shots,” said Hart afterwards. “That’s something that I knew they were going to play — they did it in preseason; they did it a couple days ago in Charlotte. So I knew I was going to get open shots — so shoot them with confidence and that opens everything else up.”

3. OG ON FIRE in the 3rd Quarter

And then came the 3rd quarter and The OG Anunoby Show. OG hit a 3 midway through the period to give NY a 10-pt lead.

Bridges hit a 3 off an OG pass; OG made a tip-in inside; OG hit another 3.

OG stole the ball. OG dunked inside.

OG was everywhere.

Karl-Anthony Towns stole the spotlight for a play of the game — an in-traffic SLAM-and-1 with 5:23 left to give NY an 87-68 lead.

And then, with 2:15 left in the quarter, OG blocked a KJ Simpson 3 from the right corner out of bounds, and then after Charlotte inbounded, OG blocked a Cody Martin 3 from the left corner!

“OG! OG! OG!” chanted the MSG sold out crowd, including Marcus Camby sitting near courtside.

And then on the other end, OG hit a 3!

NY 98 Charlotte 73.

“OG Anunoby needs no plays called for him nor the ball in his hands to impact the game,” raved NBA Analyst Ross Kreines. “On one end, he makes u earn yours while on the other end, he creates his own opportunities with his slashing/cutting leading to easy looks, or his movement off ball creating space to hit his jumper.”

4. KAT & Bridges & Company Cruise in 4th

KAT dominated the early scoring in the 4th quarter for the Knicks with a 3 and a dunk inside, and Precious Achiuwa got his first bucket of the year in his first game back.

Seth Curry was hitting 3 after 3 for Charlotte to keep them from getting totally blown out — he hit three 3’s, two deuces and a drive in the period — but NY maintained a 20+ point lead throughout.

For the Knicks Mikal Bridges and Miles McBride were hitting 3’s, Hart and OG and Bridges were everywhere on defense, and Towns was dominating inside and out. For the 3rd straight game, Jalen Brunson did not play the 4th quarter — Thibs mentioned afterwards he’s had a sore back.

NY emptied the bench with 2 minutes left.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401704893

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