Knicks 91-Hornets 79 01.14.00
NEW YORK-The tears in David Wesley's bloodshot eyes told the story moments before tipoff. The grieving wasn't over, even if the game was about to begin. Wesley and the Hornets were in no shape to play Saturday night, and it showed at the start and at the finish. Playing just three days after the death of teammate Bobby Phills in a car crash, Charlotte lost 91-79 to the New York Knicks. Although there were bursts of energy and moments of cohesiveness, the Hornets started slowly and finished poorly in their first time together on a basketball court since practice Wednesday morning, a few hours before Phills was killed. "There were times when I went to the bench and thought to myself that we really could have used Bobby," teammate Eddie Jones said. "I went in and out like that when I was off the court, but when I was on the court I was concentrating on the game. "We have the funeral in Baton Rouge on Sunday, that will be tough going through it again, but we'll get through it together. That's just what we have to do," Jones said. Wearing black patches with Phills' uniform No. 13 on their shoulders, along with "13 B.P." etched on their sneakers, the Hornets trailed almost the entire game in losing their seventh straight. New York started the game with a 19-7 run and locked up the victory with a 13-2 run in the fourth quarter after Charlotte rallied to tie it at 63-all. "I'm not going to allow us to wallow in pity and sorrow. We have a job to do," coach Paul Silas said before the game. No matter how many words of encouragement he spoke or how hard the players tried to put the tragedy out of their minds, the gravity of Phills' death cast a pall over the team. Phills was killed instantly Wednesday morning when he lost control of his Porsche and it crashed into another vehicle. The 30-year-old player left behind a wife and two children, ages 3 and 1. Wesley stood shuffling his feet from side to side with his eyes growing watery as a moment of silence was observed prior to tipoff. Wesley, who was hugged by Latrell Sprewell and Larry Johnson of the Knicks just before the jump ball, missed his first two field goal attempts and his first foul shot. He finished 2-for-11 from the field with six points and nine assists, although his demeanor changed in the fourth quarter as his blank-faced look disappeared. "David's shot was off, but as far as overall play he made a great effort and concentrated," Silas said. Wesley, overheard joking with his teammates about his shooting after the game, did not speak to reporters. Sprewell led the Knicks with 20 points, Johnson had 17, Marcus Camby 14 and Allan Houston 13. Jones, playing his first game since straining an elbow ligament Dec. 20, led Charlotte with 23 points. "I wanted to win so bad tonight, extremely bad," Jones said. "A win brings a little laughter, confidence and cockiness — makes you forget about things. To lose, you start dwelling on things again. But we're going to get through it. We'll win our next game and the hurting will start to go away." The Hornets missed seven of their first eight shots and fell behind by double digits less than eight minutes into the game before summoning the strength to rally back and tie it early in the fourth. Of course, just summoning the fortitude to go back to work was a difficult enough task so soon after the tragedy. Charlotte's games Wednesday and Friday were postponed. "We're going through a very, very trying time, but the bottom line is that basketball is what brought us all together. That's how we got to know Bobby Phills," Silas said. Brad Miller made two foul shots to tie it one minute into the fourth quarter, but Johnson and Sprewell hit 3-pointers, Kurt Thomas had a three-point play, and Camby and Thomas followed with dunks as the Knicks quickly went back up by 11. A 3-pointer by Jones got the deficit down to seven with 1:40 left, but Charlie Ward and Houston answered with 3-pointers. "You could really tell it was tough on them at the beginning," Houston said. "As the game got going, the instincts started to kick back in and they just started to play basketball."
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