Hornets end Knicks winning streak, 114-103, in potential playoff preview

Who needs the Detroit Pistons when you have the Charlotte Hornets ? The Knicks, in pursuit of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, would be better suited avoiding both. The proof in the pudding was on display at the Spectrum Center, where the Hornets snapped the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak — against losing teams plus the depleted Golden State Warriors — in embarrassing fashion on Thursday, a 114-103 victory for the Eastern Conference’s No.

9 seed. In a potential first-round playoff preview. It’s a likely scenario: Knicks owning home-court advantage in a Round 1 showdown over young and fun Hornets, who’ve been supercharged by the arrival of Duke’s Kon Kneuppel, selected No.

4 overall in last June’s NBA Draft. Kneuppel, who appears to be headlining the two-man Rookie of the Year race (Dallas’ Cooper Flagg is the other award hopeful), hit six 3s for 26 points to help the Hornets build a lead that ballooned to as large as 21 in the fourth quarter. And if the Knicks are going to fare any better in a matchup — or a series — against the Hornets, they’ll need better performances from Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 20 or more points in seven of his prior eight games, before playing just 22 minutes in Charlotte on Thursday.

Towns finished with 13 points on five-of-eight shooting from the field and snared just three rebounds. The Knicks were outscored by 18 points in their All-Star center’s minutes on the floor. And they were out-rebounded by the Hornets, who started Moussa Diabate at the five, by 19, a never-before-seen 43-24 margin on the glass against a Knicks team with two premier rebounders at center (plus another playing the forward spot in Josh Hart ).