Knicks Shoot Down Hornets to Advance

Three games of shooting 56% or better landed the New York Knicks in a familiar spot.

“We kept thinking they’d cool off at some point, but they never did,” Charlotte’s Glen Rice said after the Knicks completed a first-round sweep of the Hornets with a 104-95 victory Monday night.

Former Hornet Larry Johnson had 22 points to lead seven players in double figures for New York, which advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the sixth consecutive season.

It was a three-pointer by Johnson that clinched the game for the Knicks with 46 seconds remaining.

“I’ve never been so happy than for Larry to have made that shot,” New York Coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “Never was anything more just than that--him making that shot.”

The Knicks will meet either the Miami Heat or the Orlando Magic. The Heat, led by former Knick coach Pat Riley, holds a 2-0 lead in that series.

New York center Patrick Ewing said the possibility of going against Riley’s latest team in the semifinals “doesn’t have anything to do with it. They’re just a team that’s in our way.”

The Knicks, who shot 56% Monday night, finished the series with a 57% shooting percentage. They also swept Cleveland in the first round last season.

“That was phenomenal,” Buck Williams said. “It’s a rarity that we shoot the basketball this well.”

Rice had 22 points for Charlotte, but just four of those came in the second half as the Hornets failed to advance past the first round for the second time in three playoff appearances.