By Tennie Sumague
EBC New York Bureau
NEW YORK (Eagle News) – For the second consecutive game, Kristaps Porzingis led another fourth quarter comeback as the New York Knicks ended on a 18-4 run to rally past the Charlotte Hornets 118-113 at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.
Porzingis, who was named the Eastern Conference player of the week, scored 28 points, including a shot clock expiring layup drive down the lane with 11 seconds left leading the Knicks (6-4) to their third straight victory.
Doug McDermott scored 20 points off the bench, including a four-point play that cut the double-digit deficit early in the fourth. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 19 for the Knicks, who won six of their last seven games.
The Garden atmosphere ignited once again as the crowd chanted, “M-V-P, M-V-P!” during the fourth quarter for Porzingis, a similar situation he faced against the team’s comeback win against the Pacers last Sunday night.
“Very, very similar situation,” Porzingis said. “We locked in defensively, we were putting a lot on them and it went our way again. We’re playing our hearts out there on the floor and that’s what I love about this team. We have a great atmosphere inside of the team and that shows on the court. We stay together throughout the game, we don’t ever give up and then we were able to win those close games.”
All-Stars Dwight Howard, Kemba Walker and rookie Malik Rose all contributed to 21 points for the visiting Hornets who had the game under control until the end.
“Too many mistakes down the stretch,” Walker said. “We made some really bad mental mistakes at the end and they capitalized. This stuff we got to learn from. We got to be better with our execution.”
(Eagle News Service)