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 Wednesday. 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 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 East’s No. 6 seed in a first-round series beginning either Saturday or Sunday.
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
