Miles Bridges scored 24 points and Gordon Hayward added 22 points Friday night for the host Charlotte Hornets, who stormed back from a 16-point, first-half deficit to beat the New York Knicks 104-96.
LaMelo Ball produced 12 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists while Terry Rozier contributed 18 points and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 12 points for the Hornets, who have won two straight. Oubre’s 3-pointer with 3:36 left gave Charlotte the lead for good at 96-93.
Kemba Walker, who played his first eight NBA seasons for the Hornets, scored a game-high 26 points for the Knicks, who have lost five of seven. Alec Burks had 15 points off the bench while Mitchell Robinson scored 11 points and Julius Randle added 10 points.
The Knicks led almost wire-to-wire in the first half and took their first 16-point lead when Burks ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer for a 34-18 edge.
The Knicks held a trio of 16-point leads in the second quarter, when the Hornets got within single digits just twice, the last time when Bridges converted a three-point play to cut New York’s lead to 55-46 at halftime.
Hayward scored the first five points of the second half — and the first seven for the Hornets — to begin a 31-11 run by Charlotte, which went ahead 77-66 on Bridges’ driving layup with 2:50 left. Rozier had 10 points in the surge.
Immanuel Quickley hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final half-minute of the period to pull the Knicks within 80-76. That sparked a 14-3 run by New York, which took an 84-83 lead on Obi Toppin’s dunk with 8:56 left.
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The teams traded the lead four more times and were tied three times before Oubre sank his go-ahead 3-pointer. Randle was whistled for an offensive foul and Walker missed a 3-point attempt before Bridges drove the lane to put the Hornets up 98-93 with 2:12 remaining.
Burks answered with a driving layup, but Bridges completed a three-point play. Quickley missed a 3-point try and Walker turned the ball over, leading to a layup by Ball that extended the Hornets’ lead to 103-95 with 1:09 remaining.
–Field Level Media