The Charlotte Hornets suffered a stomach-turning loss on Friday night thanks to a huge fourth quarter/overtime from the New York Knicks.
Yikes. The Charlotte Hornets were on the path to winning their fourth straight game, but after being outscored 48-31 in the fourth quarter and overtime period, the team blew it and fell back to the .500 mark with a loss to the New York Knicks.
This is a big loss, and for multiple reasons. First of all, each and every single game counts during the regular season. It appeared that Charlotte was going to win this, but the Knicks came into the fourth quarter with a lot of energy, and made it a game. This could be a loss that haunts the Hornets by the time the season is over.
Secondly, the Hornets schedule over the next few games is decent, so now is the time to rack up some wins. It didn’t happen tonight, but they still have a chance to make some noise over the next few games, including in tomorrow’s game against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The unlikely duo of Emmanuel Mudiay and Luke Kornet killed the Hornets tonight. Mudiay had a career-high 34 points and hit some really big shots for the Knicks tonight. Kornet, who is in his second season, had 13 points and six rebounds, easily his best game of the year.
Despite the ugly loss, the Hornets did have some positives performances tonight, including from the birthday boy Nicolas Batum. Bismack Biyombo was inactive tonight, while Willy Hernangomez, Dwayne Bacon and Devonte’ Graham all picked up DNP-CD’s.
Let’s hand out these grades.