The Knicks could have had a great game against a battered, last-place opponent on Black Friday.
Instead, they paid full retail price for a 99-98 victory, but that performance was eclipsed by the team's biggest disappointment, Mikal Bridges, who watched most of the game from the bench. It required a fourth-quarter turnaround.
Jalen Brunson led a late charge with 11 of his 31 points in the final period, including a foul shot with 8.6 seconds left that stopped the Knicks (11-8).
But it couldn't have been that close.
The Hornets (6-13) had a staff vacancy due to injuries, with regulars such as LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges inactive.
Their starting lineup resembled the G League lineup of Vasilije Micic, Moussa Diabaté and Tijan Saraoun.
Still, they led for much of the game and had a chance for Cody Martin's go-ahead trey with 21 seconds left, but the shot bounced off the rim.
Bridges, a symbol of the Knicks' struggles to start the season, had perhaps his worst game, playing 37 minutes with questionable defense and scoring just eight points on 3-of-10 shooting.
He was ejected with 8:25 left and the Knicks trailing by six points.
He only returned three defensive possessions, but was quickly sent off again, allowing someone else to attack.
Substitute Miles McBride (14 points, 5 rebounds, 26 minutes) played effectively for the rest of the game as the Knicks took the lead and took the victory, remaining undefeated in the NBA Cup.
New York's Group A winner will be determined by Tuesday's game against Orlando.
Friday got off to a bad start for coach Tom Thibodeau's team.
Two days after scoring a season-low 15 points in the first quarter of a loss to Dallas, the Knicks scored again against Charlotte, trailing 23-15 in the first period.
The Hornets deployed a switching defense, but the Knicks were unable to overcome this strategy this season.
Friday's problem, similar to Wednesday's, was that mismatches with smaller defenders stopped Towns from moving the ball as he tried to steal it, a move that didn't bear much fruit.
The end of the first half epitomized that disappointment.
With 1.1 seconds left on a Hornets bucket attack, the Knicks simply threw the ball to the ground to take halftime.
Instead, Bridges threw a pass into the hands of Charlotte's Josh Green, who sank a jumper before the buzzer for a 49-46 lead.
Green was up by four points with one second, and Bridges was the culprit. He was out of the game for most of the fourth quarter making mistakes like that.
