Charlotte Hornets: Win in Knick of Time
The Charlotte Hornets got the win in dramatic fashion last night against the New York Knicks. After Cody Zeller made the go ahead basket, the Knicks tried to get a shot off in the final seconds. Rookie forward Kristaps Porzingis did make a three pointer but it was ruled to have been released after the horn blew. If it had counted, the Hornets would have lost.
Another factor in the Hornets favor in this game was the free throw disparity. The Knicks shot seven the entire night while the Hornets shot twenty eight. The Hornets made 60% of those and that more than explained final margin of the game. The reason that the Hornets got so many foul shots was that they kept pushing it inside to Zeller and he collected fouls against Louis Amundsen and Kyle O’Quinn for the Knicks.
The Hornets experienced another game where their two big guns, Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson, were pretty quiet on the night. It was not them but the bench troika of Jeremy Lamb, Jeremy Lin, and Zeller that scored the points. Those three were in double figures. Spencer Hawes had five assists working with that group.
Final. 93. 27. 95. 170
The lone starter with a big line of points was Nicolas Batum. Batum took advantage of favorable matchups to do his damage. He scored 24, which mostly negated the 29 points scored on the other side by Carmelo Anthony.
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The Knicks offense relies on Anthony and did again last night. The biggest stat number of the night was the rebounding of Porzingis. The Latvian, often criticized for his lack of bulk, pulled down fifteen rebounds during the game.
So the Hornets are back at five hundred in the standings. In an Eastern Conference where lots of teams believe that they are in line for the seventh or eighth seed in the playoffs, the Hornets have to win games against teams like the Knicks in order to keep pace.
In order to do that the team is going to need a complete team effort including Jefferson and Walker to get back on track.
The Hornets next play the Bulls on Friday.