Knicks torment Hornets

11-1-97

By ED HARDIN, Staff Writer

CHARLOTTE -- The coaches came out in tuxedos, which were snappy. The players came out in their new uniforms, which were very fashionable. The Charlotte Hornets unveiled their new game, which was very ugly.

The flying inflatable Hugo balloon hit a light standard, deflated and crashed in front of George Shinn. And the inflated hopes of the Hornets, in their first game of the 10th season in Charlotte, crashed soon after.

The New York Knicks whipped the Hornets 97-85 Friday night in the first game of the year. The social event of the Halloween season ended badly for Charlotte.

By halftime Dave Cowens had removed his bow tie, looking like a pall bearer after an Irish wake as he walked off the court. Officials lost the game ball at one point, never finding it. By the middle of the third period, fans were chanting "Muggsy! Muggsy! Muggsy!" By the end of the game, fans were fighting in the stands.

"It was pretty ugly," Cowens said.

The Knicks, who swept the Hornets in the first round of the playoffs last year, led 10-1 in the opening minutes and looked as if they would stomp Charlotte and its brand-new lineup. The Hornets made a game of it late, but faded in the end when free throws stopped falling and Charlotte's stars began to tire.

Former Charlotte star Larry Johnson hit his first six shots, torturing Tony Farmer, who started the game for injured Bobby Phills. Johnson, the Hornets' 1991 No. 1 draft pick, finished with 22 points, one of three Knicks to score more than 20. Patrick Ewing led all scorers with 23, and John Starks added 20.

Anthony Mason scored 21 to lead Charlotte, but other than backup center Matt Geiger, the Hornets had no other weapons. Glen Rice missed his first eight shots, didn't make a field goal until the fourth quarter and finished with 11 points. Vlade Divac scored seven points and had seven rebounds.

"I had good individual stats," Mason said. "But that don't matter when you lose."

Mason led the team in scoring and rebounding, with 12, but he had no assists and missed seven free throws.

"I missed too many free throws," he admitted.

Though the Hornets actually came back to take the lead late in the game, the outcome was probably decided much sooner. It was probably decided in the first four minutes when Farmer, playing in his first NBA game, missed six shots, including the first of the game when Ewing blocked it, committed two fouls, gave up six points to Johnson and traveled before Cowens could get him out of the game.

By then Charlotte trailed 10-1, and Cowens was trying to decide what to do about an obviously overmatched lineup. Without Phills, the Hornets' biggest offseason addition, Charlotte looked slow on defense and tentative on offense. Wesley, another offseason acquisition, was bothered all night by New York's Charlie Ward.

Did he hear the crowd chanting for Muggsy Bogues, Charlotte's point guard for much of its 10-year history?

"No," he said. "I must have missed that."

Cowens heard it and said he considered replacing Wesley with the veteran Bogues.

"I really wanted to see my guy Wesley," Cowens said. "And I wanted to get Tony Delk in to get those guys to be point guards, too."

Johnson said the Hornets needed Bogues.

"Yes, they needed Muggsy," Johnson said.

With Wesley coming around late in the game, and Mason bulling his way inside the New York defense, Charlotte went on a 9-4 run and cut the Knicks lead to 73-72. With 6:48 to play, Mason got inside Ewing and scored to give the Hornets a 74-73 lead.

'We got the lead, but we couldn't hold it," Cowens said. "We couldn't hit free throws."

Charlotte missed four of five free throws over the next two minutes, and New York pulled away for good. By then, Shinn had gone home, having seen his team lose its opener and almost having the giant Hornet that flies around the coliseum by remote control, fall on him in the first half.

Shinn, the team's owner who is the target of a sexual misconduct investigation, had no comment when approached at halftime. He left before the game ended.