The Knicks fell behind early and were down 10-12 points throughout most of the evening on the second game of a back-to-back in Charlotte, losing 115-98 on a Thursday night.
NY couldn’t hit the 3 — shooting 10-39 for 25.6% versus Charlotte’s 15-32 shooting from 3 (46.9%). The Knick defense wasn’t up to par, and they were out-rebounded 52-38 on a night when Mitchell Robinson had a night off for scheduled rest during his recuperation period from the ankle surgery, and of course Jalen Brunson remains out with the ankle sprain.
NY made a run late in the 3rd to pull within 5 points with 5:47 left, but then Miles Bridges hit a 3 and a deuce and NY was down 10 again, and it stayed that way the rest of the way — every time NY pulled to within 8, Charlotte had an answer and was up by double-digits again.
“Probably our defense and our rebounding; and we got behind right away — that was probably the game right there,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “We didn’t make our 3’s in the 1st half — I think we were 4-21 — and a lot of them were great shots. You try not to let that take energy away from the other parts of the game. I thought guys were very unselfish and we didn’t make ’em. That’s where you have to count on your defense and your rebounding; that’s where we fell short.”
NY falls to 43-26; Charlotte improves to 18-51.
1. OG and Towns Do the Knick Scoring Early
With Jalen Brunson out, the Knicks — playing the 2nd game of a back-to-back wherein the prior night they lost in San Antonio — needed to figure a way to bring it.
And OG Anunoby brought it — scoring buckets early for the Knicks — hitting drives, 3’s, and drive-and-1’s — for 10 points in the 1st quarter.
Charlotte jumped out to a 13-8 lead but the Knicks charged back with OG’s scoring and a 3 by Josh Hart to take a 19-17 lead and it looked like things were going to be ok.
3️⃣ ball off the dribble… We like that! @joshhart pic.twitter.com/LZmR2xr0OK
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 20, 2025
But Seth Curry hit a J, and Jusuf Nurkic hit a drive and then free throws off a drive — while OG was missing consecutive 3-pt attempts and Charlotte took a 27-19 lead into the 2nd quarter.
2. Knicks Couldn’t Hit the 3; Charlotte Could
Karl-Anthony Towns joined the scoring and started to dominate inside for the Knicks in the 2nd, and Mikal Bridges scored on drives.
way too much space for a shooter like KAT ♨ pic.twitter.com/1GXNmAdE2X
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 21, 2025
But NY started to miss, and miss, and miss from 3.
And Charlotte didn’t miss.
In an interesting matchup within the matchup — Mikal Bridges was pitted against Miles Bridges. Mikal was the #10 pick in the 2018 draft, while Miles Bridges was the #12 pick. As most Knick fans know, both were rumored to be players the Knicks might select with the #9 pick, along with Shai-Gilgeous Alexander (who went #11) and Michael Porter Jr (who went #14) — but NY picked Kevin Knox at #9. Miles Bridges is of course back this season after being suspended a year due to a domestic incident.
The 6’6 Miles Bridges finished with 15 pts on 6-17 shooting (2-5 from 3) while the 6’6 Mikal Bridges had 16 pts on 5-11 shooting (0-4 from 3).
LaMelo Ball is also back with Charlotte after missing a chunk of the season due to injury, and he killed the Knicks all night with 25 pts on 10-23 shooting (5-10 from 3) with 8 assists.
Charlotte also got good 3-pt shooting from DaQuan Jeffries (14 pts; 3-5 from 3) and Nick Smith Jr off the bench (13 pts on 4-10 shooting, 2-4 from 3) and Nurkic (9 pts on 3-3 shooting and 2-2 from 3).
3. NY Pulls Within 5 in 3rd
The Knicks were down by 10 at the half, and could not dent the Charlotte lead to start the 3rd. Every time NY pulled within 8, Charlotte had an answer and would push the lead back to 10 or 12.
Finally NY made a run midway thru the period to pull within 5 on a Josh Hart drive with 5:47 left. Charlotte 69 NY 64.
But Miles Bridges hit a 3 and then a deuce and Charlotte was up by 10 again within 45 seconds.
4. Knicks Can’t Dent Charlotte Double-Digit Lead in 4th
And it just stayed that way the rest of the way — NY couldn’t get stops.
OG with the slam! 💥 pic.twitter.com/YCkSXFfKoy
— Knicks Videos (@sny_knicks) March 20, 2025
NY could have used Mitchell Robinson — KAT needed help against Charlotte’s big men.
Charlotte has Mark Williams inside — the 7-foot center out of Duke who was the #15 pick in the 2022 draft. He hurt NY with 19 pts on 8-14 shooting with 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. He is averaging 15.5 ppg and 10.1 rpg on the season.
Charlotte also has the 7-foot Nurkic — who had 9 pts and 7 rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401705576