Hornets 95, Knicks 93: "F*** that, Porzingis is still the God"

OK.

I needed some time, to be honest. I hugged my kittens for a while. I meditated. I may have thrown up a little. And now we shall discuss...

The Knicks lost to the Charlotte Hornets. Do I really have to tell you how they lost? Can't you just take my word for it?

Fine! They blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, thanks to a Linsanity-esque Jeremy Lin performance. That sucked. With the game tied and the clock running down, they turned to their old war horse: the Carmelo Anthony iso, resulting in a long, off-balance jumper that ricocheted off the side of the backboard. That really sucked. After a nice play to deny Charlotte's first entry pass, Robin Lopez strayed a bit too far from Tyler Zeller, resulting in a game-winning layup with 0.6 seconds left.

Or so it seemed!

Alas, not even the mighty Kristaps can overcome the pull of a classic Knicks gut-punch loss. The officials convened with a coven of scoundrel-ass motherfuckers in Secaucus, waived the basket off, and Charlotte was declared the winner. As his powers continue to grow, Zingis Khan should be able to break free of that late-game orange-and-blue yoke that has destroyed so many lesser ballers. As King Henry the 2nd put it, Porzingis is still the God.

Notes:

- I could get used to watching this Arron Afflalo fella. The Knicks' newest shooting guard played like an honest-to-goodness NBA-level starting shooting guard, dropping 12 points and grabbing six boards. Just as important, he flew around the court on his defensive rotations ... at least he did at the start of both halves. He seemed to lose a bit of that edge as the minutes piled up, but I'll chalk that up to conditioning. Swapping out Vujacic -- who played zero minutes tonight -- for Afflalo should raise the Knicks' quality on a nightly basis.

- Another ho-hum 10-point, 15-rebound, two-block night for Porzingis, even without the game-winning three. It should be noted that he went 0-4 from the field in the second half, and began to look hesitant with his jumper after scorching the nets in the first few minutes of the game. That's become a bit of a pattern with Krispy -- when he starts out hot, he usually ends up sitting for awhile and comes back stone cold. He did continue to make his presence felt on the boards, however, and did this to Kemba Walker.

Here it is (via @TommyBeer) pic.twitter.com/RD5uunwx5U

— The Knicks Wall (@TheKnicksWall) November 12, 2015

- Hornets coach Steve Clifford's teams never send help at Melo. Sometimes it works great, other times he scores 62 points. We saw a bit of both Melos on Wednesday. He started out cold, then went off in the third quarter, then tried to shoot his way back into the groove in the fourth. The Knicks really would have benefited from him taking it strong to the rim a few more times to draw fouls -- they shot only seven as a team.

- This was the first game in which Jose Calderon outplayed Langston Galloway. Lang-starr had his worst game of the season, failing to contain Lin and Jeremy Lamb and shooting 0-1 from downtown. You need to shoot a few more triples when playing with the second unit, Langston, even when you're not feeling it.

- Jerian Grant was a bit of a mixed bag, getting some shots to fall inside for the first time in a while, but struggling to take care of the ball.

- Lou Amundson should be taking all of Kevin Seraphin's minutes. I don't know what it is about Lou on the Knicks, but the dude is usually in the right place at the right time.

- The offense displayed many of the Triangle-related problems that plagued last season's team. The team was mostly unconscious from mid-range, but couldn't get to the rim or buy a three (4-21). This is the second game in a row where they were absolutely dominated at the free-throw line: 28 attempts for Charlotte, seven for New York. The team's penchant for drawing fouls was one of the biggest surprises of the first two weeks. Here's hoping they start getting back to the line soon, because you know they won't stop fouling on the other end.

Sweet Georgia Brown, it would have been nice to get above .500. The Knicks return to MSG on Friday -- where they have kinda sucked -- to face the Cavaliers. Better watch your back, Kevin Love...Kristaps is coming for you again!