Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball and Coby White each scored 19 points as the visiting Charlotte Hornets earned the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament with a 110-96 win over the New York Knicks on Sunday.
Ball made five 3-pointers and added seven rebounds and six assists for Charlotte (44-38), which will host the Miami Heat in a No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game on Tuesday. Kon Knueppel finished with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.
New York (53-29) had nothing to play for after already clinching the East’s No. 3 seed. With most of their regulars sitting out, the Knicks started Miles McBride, Jose Alvarado, Mikal Bridges, Mohamed Diawara and Ariel Hukporti.
Bridges’ consecutive games played streak reached 638 — the eighth-longest in NBA history — with his brief appearance.
Bridges is the NBA’s active leader in consecutive regular-season games played and was replaced by Jordan Clarkson just 23 seconds into the contest as part of a plan by coach Mike Brown to keep the streak intact.
McBride made four 3-pointers and scored 21 points for New York, which had its five-game winning streak come to an end. Alvarado had 16 points, Kevin McCullar Jr. added a career-high 14, Pacome Dadiet scored a career-high 12, and Jeremy Sochan also tallied 12.
New York will face the Atlanta Hawks, the East’s No. 6 seed, in a first-round series beginning Saturday.
The Hornets shot 45.9% from the field and 36.5% (19 of 52) from 3-point range.
Ten different players played at least 12 minutes for New York, which connected on 43.3% of its shots from the field and 32.5% (13 of 40) from beyond the arc.
Charlotte led 30-20 at the end of the opening quarter and extended its lead to 50-35 on Miller’s two foul shots with 3:34 left in the second. The Hornets took a 57-44 lead into the half.
Knueppel drilled one of his three 3-pointers to give the Hornets a 69-54 lead with 8:53 left in the third quarter. Charlotte held an 87-73 advantage at the end of the period.
The Hornets maintained a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter and led 108-91 on Sion James’s trey with 3:02 remaining.
Both teams garnered a dozen offensive rebounds, but Charlotte outscored New York, 26-12 on second chance points.
–Field Level Media
