By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Charlotte Hornets added to the New York Knicks’ woes after scoring a wire-to-wire upset victory, 115-98, during their Eastern Conference showdown in the NBA regular season on March 21, 2025.
With the much-needed win, the Hornets just pushed the Knicks to its second straight defeat and continued to struggle without the presence of their superstar Jalen Brunson who is still ruled out temporarily due to a severe ankle sprain.
Without Brunson in the lineup, New York lost four out of their seven past games and might be in danger of falling out of the Eastern Conference’s top 5 teams.
The Knicks just lost to the third-worst team in the league, the Hornets, with a losing record of 18 wins and 51 losses. They only held a brief four-point lead during the game, with Charlotte already dictating the pace after returning to the driver’s seat midway through the first quarter.
After that run at the end of the opening canto, the Hornets never looked back and kept on attacking New York’s interior with the two-man game between Mark Williams and LaMelo Ball.
Williams, a combination of length and power down the post, manhandled the defense of Karl Anthony-Towns and delivered another double-double outing of 19 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.
The behemoth played big time in the crucial second frame when the Knicks had a mini-offensive run that tied the ball game.
During that stretch, Williams scored back-to-back sweeping hooks and ballooned Charlotte’s lead to nine points after throwing down an alley-oop lob from Ball.
Picking up where Williams left off was Charlotte’s superstar floor general, Ball, who opened the third quarter with a series of ridiculous three-pointers.
Ball extended Charlotte’s lead to double digits after a trey from near the logo and followed it up with a stop-and-pop that forced New York to call a timeout out of frustration.
The Knicks never made the game close in the fourth and had to withstand Charlotte’s hot shooting while getting outrebounded in the paint, 52-38.
Those boards hurt New York in the second half, with the Hornets pouring 10 second-chance points through offensive rebounds.
The only positive sight during the loss was Towns and OG Anunoby combining for 49 points. Without Brunson, the 1-2 punch became the team’s scoring leaders through the seven-game stretch.
