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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Against the best defensive team in the
league, the Charlotte Hornets finally starting playing some of
their own.
|  | | Charlotte's Elden Campbell soars over the Knicks' Kurt Thomas. |
The Hornets, awful on defense while dropping five straight games
and 11 of 14, shut down the New York Knicks for an 81-67 victory
Wednesday night.
"We knew we had to do something about our defense," said Jamal
Mashburn, who led Charlotte with 31 points and 13 rebounds.
"We felt like our defense was really what was hurting us, so we
came out tonight and contested shots and kept our hands in their
faces and made it so their jumpers wouldn't fall."
The Knicks, who had their NBA-record 33-game streak of holding
opponents under 100 points snapped in Tuesday night's 105-91 loss
at Milwaukee, played better defense against the Hornets.
But Charlotte played even better, especially in the second half.
The Hornets caused the Knicks to either miss a shot or turn the
ball over on their first nine trips up the floor in the third
quarter. They held New York to 31 points after halftime on 9-for-36
shooting.
New York shot 33 percent for the game, was 3-for-17 from 3-point
range, and committed 16 turnovers.
"We were there, our concentration was on," said David Wesley,
who scored 18 points for Charlotte. "And it's funny that it came
against them because usually they are the ones playing the great
defense. But the presence wasn't there for them, it just didn't
feel like that New York presence."
The game looked a little like payback from the teams' first
meeting this season, when the Knicks held the Hornets to 19
second-half points in an 81-67 victory on Nov. 11.
"We weren't thinking about the first game, we were just
thinking about getting a win," Mashburn said. "We just wanted to
stop the bleeding and we did that tonight."
The Knicks have lost three straight for the first time since
early last season.
"We're just not playing well enough to win right now," said
New York coach Jeff Van Gundy. "And it's not about any one thing --
you have to play a total game to win and we're not doing that."
The Knicks were without Marcus Camby, who sat out the fourth
game of his five-game suspension for throwing a punch at San
Antonio's Danny Ferry on Jan. 15.
Kurt Thomas started in his place, but sprained his right ankle
with 1:44 to play in the first half in a collision with P.J. Brown.
He didn't return.
"Anytime you lose two of your dominant players, it takes a toll
on you," said New York's Glen Rice. "You have to give some credit
to Charlotte defensively, but we've got our own wrinkles to iron
out."
Luc Longley, battling a stomach virus, replaced Thomas at the
start of the second half and that's when Charlotte won the game.
Longley was terrible in the first few minutes, drawing a kicking
violation on one Charlotte possession, then contributing to
consecutive New York turnovers when he couldn't handle passes from
Larry Johnson.
He was pulled for the rest of the game with 6:43 to play in the
third quarter. Charlotte, which led just 38-36 at the start of the
period, scored 10 straight points while Longley was on the floor to
go up 48-38.
"He didn't seem comfortable in there," Wesley said. "It
seemed like he wasn't expecting L.J. to go to him and he couldn't
handle the ball."
The Hornets took a 64-52 lead into the fourth quarter, and built
on it while New York self-destructed on offense. The Knicks missed
their first six shots of the quarter, but Charlotte converted on
its end to stretch its lead to 70-52 with 9:32 to play.
New York never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Latrell Sprewell led New York with 22 points. Allan Houston
added 18.
"Latrell was really the only guy who played effectively
offensively for us," Van Gundy said.
Game notes
Reggie Theus was scheduled to be the sideline reporter for
TNT's broadcast of the game, but lost his job on Tuesday when CNN
cut 1,000 jobs. The network did not send a replacement. ... Houston
missed his third free-throw attempt of the night, snapping a streak
of 33 in a row against Charlotte. ...Trey Phills, the 4-year-old
son of late Hornet Bobby Phills, dressed as "Hugo Jr." and joined
the Charlotte mascot on the floor for certain routines.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
New York Clubhouse
Charlotte Clubhouse
RECAPS
Cleveland 94
Chicago 86
Phoenix 106
Detroit 73
Miami 103
Toronto 83
Charlotte 81
New York 67
Philadelphia 85
Houston 84
Golden State 109
New Jersey 87
Seattle 114
LA Clippers 110
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