CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 Jalen Brunson scored 33 points, Karl-Anthony Towns had 19 points and 10 rebounds and the New York Knicks handed the Charlotte Hornets their seventh straight loss 129-101 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Josh Hart added 22 points for the Knicks, who made 13 of 26 shots from 3-point range to improve to 3-1 in NBA Cup group play.<\/p>\n
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Brandon Miller had 18 points in his second game back from a shoulder injury for the Hornets, who\u2019ve lost 10 straight Cup games over the past three seasons and were eliminated from this year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n
The Knicks played like a team eager to advance in the NBA Cup midseason tournament and improve their point differential, which was at minus-2 entering the night.<\/p>\n
New York coach Mike Brown didn’t take out his starters until 2:17 remained in the game and his team up by 24.<\/p>\n
The Knicks left no doubt about this one.<\/p>\n
They bolted to a 25-point halftime lead behind a balanced offensive attack as all five starters scored in double digits before halftime. New York shot 64% from the field and made 6 of 10 shots from beyond the arc before the break.<\/p>\n
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Of the Knicks’ 72 first-half points, 68 came from their starters including 19 from Hart.<\/p>\n
Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball struggled to keep up with Brunson, who sent him to the bench in the third quarter with his fourth foul.<\/p>\n
Ball, the only player in Hornets history to ever sign a max contract that pays him $260 million, later was assessed a technical foul for arguing with officials and he finished with just 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Brunson was greeted with repeated chants of \u201cMVP! MVP!\u201d from the crowd at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Both teams play another NBA Cup group stage game on Friday night with New York hosting the Bucks and Charlotte hosting the Bulls.<\/p>\n
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