CHARLOTTE, NC - It was yet another slow start for the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night as former face of the franchise, Kemba Walker, came into the Spectrum Center and poured in 17 points in the opening quarter of play. Charlotte just couldn't get shots to fall and New York made just about everything. The Knicks jumped out to a quick 13-4 lead which forced head coach James Borrego to use an early timeout to get things settled down.
Despite Charlotte's struggles shooting the ball in the 2nd quarter, they were able to go into the half trailing by single digits, 55-46. At the half, Borrego told his team that he wanted them to be more aggressive and to pick up the tempo to create some fastbreak opportunities.
To start the 3rd quarter, the Hornets turned to Gordon Hayward early and often to get things going. They jumped out to a 10-1 run that eventually extended out to a 22-5 run to begin the quarter, giving the Hornets a 68-60 lead.
"Yeah, he set the tone for us," Borrego said of Hayward. "Out of the half, we went right to him with a cut right down the gut. The and one, that got him going. We needed to be aggressive. I think our first quarters and third quarters are really important and he's a big part of that to start that aggression for those quarters."
The Spectrum Center was electric throughout the game, but especially in the fourth quarter when the lead was going back and forth. The Knicks had a strong contingency of fans and got super loud on a few occasions, which did not sit well with the Hornets fans. After an Obi Toppin windmill dunk, a large part of the crowd started chanting "let's go Knicks" during the timeout but that was quickly drowned out by boos of the Hornets fans.
A few possessions later, Miles Bridges had a breakaway opportunity and threw down a windmill dunk of his own to top Toppin's dunk. Bridges talked about the sequence of plays in the postgame press conference.
"Me and Obi, we're great friends. We were at USA together and did some dunk contests and stuff. So when he did that and I got my fastbreak, I already knew what I was going to do."
That dunk fueled Bridges to have a strong final few minutes of the game in which he chipped in seven of the team's next eleven points to create some separation from New York. One of those baskets came on a beautiful jab and spin move that put Julius Randle on skates. Charlotte's defense locked in from that point on and never allowed the Knicks to have a chance in the final two minutes. The Hornets came out on top with a 104-96 win to move to 7-7 on the season.
The Hornets will be back in action on Sunday at the Spectrum Center when they play host to the Golden State Warriors.
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