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Miller Exits After Scary Fourth-Quarter vs Knicks
The New York Knicks lost their game against the Charlotte Hornets with a score of 96-110 at Madison Square Garden. Although the Knicks were outmatched by the Hornets, the major headline was raised during the last quarter when Kelvin McCullar Jr. was trying to block a shot but in doing so, he inadvertently clipped to the head of Charlotte’s Brandon Miller. This resulted in the Hornets’ star player being taken off the court for medical treatment after suffering a head injury.
Miller Exits After Scary Fourth-Quarter Against Knicks
As the game was heavily in the Hornets’ favor, a wild incident at the basket during the fourth quarter became the main highlight of the evening.
Knicks guard Kevin McCullar Jr. was going for a block on the break, and his elbow making contact with Brandon Miller’s head during the collision.
“Yo I got blood. I’m bleeding somewhere”
Hornets attend to Brandon Miller
Referee attends to the ball
LaMelo attends to LaMelo
At 7:40 to go in the fourth quarter, the official substitution was made. Kon Knueppel came into the game for Brandon Miller. It was a worrying sight for Charlotte, who had Miller performing very well up to that moment, especially with the Play-In Tournament just a few days away.
Miller’s Performance Before the Injury
Brandon Miller, the Hornets forward had a very good night before going off. He had 19 points which helped him to be among the three Charlotte players that scored above 15 points, the other two were LaMelo Ball and Coby White. Throughout the whole game, Miller was a never-ending problem for New York. One of his most important moves was a three-point play, which helped the Hornets to make the difference 14 points when the 4th quarter started.
Monitoring his condition will be very critical because Charlotte will be facing the Miami Heat in the Play-In game.
McCullar’s Performance on the Other End
For McCullar, it was a night of mixed results. The Knicks guard came off the bench and contributed 14 points in 25 minutes, adding two rebounds and one assists. While he was productive offensively, his inadvertent elbow on Miller was the unfortunate highlight of his night, and something neither team would have wanted to see in a regular-season finale.
Knicks Rest Starters, Bench Unit Shows Up
GettyKnicks bench against Hornets
The Knicks had already secured a playoff spot, so the team deliberately chose not to field its top starters. This featured Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart for the game.
Clearly, this was load management ahead of the Knicks’ deep postseason run.
Miles McBride led all Knicks scorers with 21 points, knocking down four three-pointers in the process. Jose Alvarado chipped in 16 points, showing the depth New York has built behind its star core.
Knicks Eyes Already on Atlanta
GettyJalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks looks on against the Atlanta Hawks during the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena on April 06, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sunday’s result doesn’t make a big impact overall because the Knicks have other more important things to deal with. They will start the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, and the Knicks are a lot stronger in this matchup according to the stats. Mikal Bridges scoring no points shouldn’t really have been a big deal as it was a load management strategy after all, however, Mohamed Diawara dishing out six assists while starting as a point guard is a clear indication that this team has sufficient depth to be able to attend to whatever situations the playoffs could throw at it.
Jayesh Pagar Jayesh Pagar is a writer at Heavy Sports, covering the New York Knicks and other NBA teams. He brings four years of experience across digital sports media, including NBA, WNBA, college basketball, and college football. He covered as the Knicks beat writer for ONSI and has written for PFSN, Sporting News, and ClutchPoints. More about Jayesh Pagar
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