Karl-Anthony Towns posted another double-double by finishing with 35 points and 18 rebounds Wednesday night for the host New York Knicks, who never trailed in a 119-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
The double-double was the 16th in 21 games this season for Towns.
Jalen Brunson scored 26 points, Mikal Bridges had 16 points and Josh Hart and Miles McBride added 15 points apiece for the Knicks, who have won five of six.
LaMelo Ball sparked a late comeback bid by scoring 16 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter for the Hornets, who have lost 12 of their last 15. Ball added nine assists and eight rebounds.
Kon Knueppel and reserve Tidjane Salaun had 13 points each while Sion James added 11 points.
The Knicks led 27-12 at the end of the first and expanded the lead to 20 points at 41-21 on Towns’ layup with 7:46 left in the second. Ball and Knueppel had seven points apiece as the Hornets responded with a 26-9 run to pull within 50-47 with a minute remaining, but the teams combined for four consecutive turnovers before Brunson sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Hornets pulled within three points twice in the first 63 seconds of the third before Towns and Bridges had eight points each in a 29-14 run that put the Knicks up 84-66 with 3:20 remaining in the quarter.
Charlotte’s Liam McNeeley hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 86-75 with 95 seconds left in the third, after which Brunson scored the final four points of the quarter to start an 11-0 run that gave the hosts a 97-75 lead with 9:28 left.
Bell answered with 13 points to spark a 21-7 run for the Hornets, who pulled within 104-96 on Salaun’s 3-pointer with 4:27 left. But McBride responded with a 3-pointer and Brunson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play on the Knicks’ next two trips and New York maintained a lead of at least 12 points the rest of the way.
Towns converted 13 of 23 from the floor, including 3 of 7 from distance, and converted 6 of 7 free throw attempts.
New York converted 23 of 27 from the charity stripe (85.2%), while Charlotte only missed twice on 21 attempts (90.5%).
The five Knick starters accounted for 107 of the team’s 119 points.
