New York trounced Charlotte 117-90 today, putting an end to a verbal sparring match. Perhaps in an effort to bolster his overmatched team's confidence, Charlotte coach Bob has been all over the paper and evening news predicting an easy victory. Just before gametime he said, "Records don't mean anything coming into a game like this. We all know who's the better team, and we're going to show it." These words turned out to be true, but not in the sense he had meant them.

New York coach Bob refused to trade jabs before the game, instead leaving the job to his superior team. Afterwards, he thought Bob's strategy curious. "No offense, but if you've got the crummy team and go around saying stuff like that, you just look like an idiot. Did he think we would actually believe that garbage? Maybe he should have invested his time coming up with a game plan rather than a press conference speech."

New York was led by Crawford (18 points, 13 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks), Turner (14 points, 10 boards, 0 assists, a steal, 2 blocks), Velazquez (20 points, 0 assists, a block). Charlotte was led by Leonard (19 points, 0 assists, 3 steals, a block), Gonzalez (5 points, 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks), Cervantes (13 points, 5 boards, 1 assists, a steal, 2 blocks).

After this victory, New York jump to 56-22 and 29-8 at home. They hold at #1 in the Atlantic and remain at #2 overall in the Eastern Conference. With this defeat, Charlotte fall to 23-55. They hold at #4 in the Southeast and remain at #13 overall in the Eastern Conference.

box score New York roster Charlotte roster