Danilo Gallinari drained a pair of late three-pointers to help the New York Knicks seal a 97-93 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Thursday.
The home side led by a single point with 1:43 remaining before the second-year Italian forward made two straight triples to extend the lead to seven and help New York claim a third straight victory.
“I thought to myself, I wasn’t being real aggressive especially in the first two quarters,” Gallinari told reporters. “They were not playing great defense when I had the ball so I had to be ready to shoot it.”
Gallinari finished with 17 points, Wilson Chandler had a team-high 27 and David Lee added 22 for the Knicks (15-20).
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Bobcats (15-19), who held a 71-61 advantage late in the third, but then surrendered 15 straight points.
The Bobcats clawed back behind three-pointers and tied the game with 2:20 left before New York answered with its own string of threes.
Stephen Jackson had a team-high 26 points and Ronald Murray scored 20 off the bench for the Bobcats.
Charlotte acquired Jackson in a trade with Golden State on Nov. 16 and the developing team chemistry has the Bobcats in the hunt for their first ever Eastern Conference playoff spot.
New York has also been inspired of late, winning 12 of their last 18 contests.
New York played without high-scoring forward Al Harrington (calf) but still managed to shoot 53 percent (39-for-73) from the field while making half of their three-point attempts.
The home team led 49-44 at halftime, lost control in the third and regained it early in the fourth.
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