Karl-Anthony Towns recorded his 12th consecutive double-double to lead the host New York Knicks to an easy 125-101 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night.
Towns racked up 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting overall to go along with 16 rebounds for New York, which had all five of its starters score in double figures. OG Anunoby netted 25 points, while Jalen Brunson (24 points), Mikal Bridges (19) and Josh Hart (18) also faced little resistance from the Charlotte defense.
Hart completed a double-double of his own by pulling down 10 boards.
The Hornets got 26 points and six rebounds from Brandon Miller but got outshot 53.9 percent to 44.9 percent from the field in what ended up being their seventh loss in a row. Vasilije Micic went for 14 points and 12 assists in the game, and Seth Curry totaled 18 points off the bench.
After taking a 65-62 edge into the break, the Knicks turned the contest into a rout in the third quarter.
Neither team scored until Miller hit a floater with 9:49 remaining in the period to trim Charlotte’s deficit to one. However, New York responded emphatically, with a Towns hook shot igniting a 12-0 run that made it 77-64 with 7:17 to go in the third.
Miller stemmed the tide with a pair of free throws before the Knicks essentially put the game away for good with a 13-2 outburst that ended with a three-point play from Towns.
New York carried a commanding 103-78 lead into the fourth and was never threatened the rest of the way.
It was the Hornets who had the upper hand early, as the visitors scored 20 of the game’s first 27 points, led 32-30 after 12 minutes of action and were up 51-44 with 6:20 to go in the second quarter.
A triple from Hart got the Knicks on track, though, and New York went on to close the first half on a 21-11 run for the three-point advantage at intermission.
