Hornets end Knicks winning streak, 114-103, in potential playoff preview

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News on Mar 26, 2026

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Who needs the Detroit Pistons when you have the Charlotte Hornets? The Knicks, in pursuit of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, would be better suited avoiding both.

The proof in the pudding was on display at the Spectrum Center, where the Hornets snapped the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak — against losing teams plus the depleted Golden State Warriors — in embarrassing fashion on Thursday, a 114-103 victory for the Eastern Conference’s No. 9 seed.

In a potential first-round playoff preview.

It’s a likely scenario: Knicks owning home-court advantage in a Round 1 showdown over young and fun Hornets, who’ve been supercharged by the arrival of Duke’s Kon Kneuppel, selected No. 4 overall in last June’s NBA Draft. Kneuppel, who appears to be headlining the two-man Rookie of the Year race (Dallas’ Cooper Flagg is the other award hopeful), hit six 3s for 26 points to help the Hornets build a lead that ballooned to as large as 21 in the fourth quarter.

And if the Knicks are going to fare any better in a matchup — or a series — against the Hornets, they’ll need better performances from Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 20 or more points in seven of his prior eight games, before playing just 22 minutes in Charlotte on Thursday.

Towns finished with 13 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field and snared just three rebounds. The Knicks were outscored by 18 points in their All-Star center’s minutes on the floor. And they were out-rebounded by the Hornets, who started Moussa Diabate at the five, by 19, a never-before-seen 43-24 margin on the glass against a Knicks team with two premier rebounders at center (plus another playing the forward spot in Josh Hart ).

The Knicks got next to nothing — 17 points — from their bench as a whole, the same amount of points Charlotte’s backup point guard Coby White scored on Thursday.

Meanwhile, LaMelo Ball scored 20 points, and Charlotte’s Brandon Miller added 21, both making four 3s on eight attempts on the night. The Hornets made 16 3s on 41 attempts against a Knicks defense struggling to rotate to open shooters.

Jalen Brunson finished with a team-high 26 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the field. OG Anunoby added 17 points on five-of-nine shooting from 3-point range, and Mikal Bridges scored 14 points on 50% shooting from the field.

The Hornets, who have not been to the playoffs since 2016, have now won 23 of their last 29 games and are riding a five-game winning streak. They have completed one of the best turnarounds in recent NBA memory, owning the league’s third-worst record last season.

The Hornets are now standing out from the pack of teams clustered in the Eastern Conference’s Play-In Tournament race. Charlotte is now tied with the Miami Heat for the East’s No. 8 seed. The Hornets are one game behind seventh-place Miami, 1.5 games behind the Toronto Raptors in sixth place, and two games behind the No. 5-seeded Atlanta Hawks — with nine games left on the schedule.

Charlotte’s schedule is stiff to end the season: The Hornets play the Boston Celtics twice and the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons once.

They will also face the Knicks in their season finale at Madison Square Garden on April 12.

The Knicks fell from a half-game to a full game behind the second-place Celtics. They have a 2.5-game cushion over No. 4 Cleveland.

Which leaves two scenarios in which the Knicks and Hornets can meet in the first round, and even more heightened stakes for the rematch in the finale: If the Knicks move up to No. 2 and the Hornets move up to No. 7 or 8 by the end of the regular season and win the Seven-Eight Game, there will be a New York-Charlotte first-round playoff series. The other scenario involves the Knicks remaining at No. 3 while the Hornets win the majority of their remaining games and catch No. 6 Toronto.

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