Knicks’ buzz killed in Charlotte (Highlights)

The rookie sensation Knueppel fell two assists short of a triple-double, leading Charlotte with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Knueppel also became the youngest players in NBA history to reach 250 three-pointers in his career.

That was enough to negate a 26-point, 13-assist double-double from Jalen Brunson, who was the only Knicks shooter to generate and sort of consistent shooting volume on a night where the visitors shot over 51 percent from the field. Josh Hart and Karl-Anthony Towns took a combined 10 attempts before breaking out in a frenzied fourth where the Knicks only knocked things down below double-digits in the penultimate minute.

Thursday marked the opener of a four-game road trip for the Knicks after they handled business against mostly eliminated competition within New York borders. New York and Charlotte had not played since early December, when a Knicks victory dropped the Hornets to 10 games below .500.

Charlotte’s offense performed as advertised in the early going, as Ball, Knueppel, and Miller each hit two triples en route to lead that reached as high as 10. Despite being unable to match that outside prowess (0-of-6 on the night), Brunson scored 17 first period points keep the deficit at two while OG Anunoby came closest to countering the triple barrage with four in the first 24.

But a late Charlotte run to close out the first half foreshadowed the rest of the game: the Hornets withstood a Mitchell Robinson alley-oop and an Anunoby double, each with assists from Brunson, that sliced the lead to one to stage a 15-6 run at the end of the half, punctuating that run with a Miller three and a Coby White drive that put them up 10 at the break.

From there, the game only very briefly dipped back under as a continued one-man show from Brunson lacked assistance. Anunoby only got three shots off in the second half, defensive assistance proved fleeting, and New York got outrebounded by 19 (each of the five Hornet starters had at least five boards).

All that and more allowed Charlotte to boost its advantage to as much as 21 before a futile Knicks run toward the end. New York trimmed the lead down to nine in the final stanzas but an emphatic last-minute Miles Bridges dunk, earned with Towns on the bench in favor of Robinson, officially broke the Knicks’ will and sent Charlotte into hysterics.

The Knicks and Hornets do battle one more time during the last session of regular season action on April 12. In the meantime, part two of this road trip lands on Sunday night, which features an anticipated showdown between the Knicks and defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC).