It’s becoming easy at home for the New York Knicks this season, as they handily took down another opponent at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. They defeated the Charlotte Hornets by a score of 119-104 to improve to 14-7 on the season and 11-1 at home.
Karl-Anthony Towns put in another strong performance for the Knicks
Karl-Anthony Towns put in another strong offensive showing with one of his better performances of the season. He finished with 35 points, 18 rebounds, five assists, and shot 13-for-23 from the field and 3-for-7 from three.
Towns scored 29 on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics and followed that up with an impressive showing against the Hornets. He has had an up-and-down season shooting the ball this season, but he has started to look better on that end of late.
The hope is that Towns is turning a new corner offensively and finding his groove again. If the Knicks want to have any success this season, they are going to need Towns to consistently play like an all-star.
Jalen Brunson bounced back after a rough outing
Jalen Brunson had his worst performance of the season against the Celtics, but he bounced back nicely against the Hornets and looked more like himself.
He finished with 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the floor. He also had five assists and flashed some defense with three steals on the night. Brunson needed a solid bounce back game after a poor effort against Boston, and his outing on Wednesday is encouraging going forward.
When Brunson is on, the rest of the team performs well. They didn’t have their best overall performance offensively, but it was enough to get them back in the win column.
Second quarters continue to bring doom on the Knicks
There has been an alarming trend with the Knicks in second quarters lately. Similar to their last two games, they got a huge lead in the fourth quarter, and let it slip away in the second quarter.
The Knicks led by 18 early in the second quarter, but the Hornets outscored them 35-26 in that period and cut the lead to as little as three just before the half. Luckily for New York, they responded well in the third quarter and opened up to a 22-point lead early in the fourth.
The Hornets had a bit of a rally going in the fourth quarter behind a scoring surge from LaMelo Ball (34 points), but the Knicks got some big buckets from Brunson late to push the lead further and eventually pull away.
While the team will take any win they can get, the complacency that follows after getting a big lead is an alarming trend. They need to stay composed for all 48 minutes of the game and avoid giving their opponents confidence.
Overview
The Knicks got themselves a much-needed win to get back in the win column. They’ll look to make it two straight on Friday when they take on the Utah Jazz at home.