Knicks rest starters, close regular season with 110-96 loss to Hornets

(Vincent Carchietta - Imagn Images)

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Knicks rest starters, close regular season with 110-96 loss to Hornets

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Knicks rest starters, close regular season with 110-96 loss to Hornets

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Knicks rest starters, close regular season with 110-96 loss to Hornets

(Vincent Carchietta - Imagn Images)

The Knicks closed the regular season with a 110-96 loss to the Charolette Hornets on Sunday night.

Here are the takeaways...

• The Knicks opted to sit out their key contributors with their spot/seed in the playoffs already locked up. Mikal Bridges still received the start to keep the NBA's longest active consecutive games streak alive (now at 638), but he committed an intentional foul to be subbed out after just 23 seconds.

Bridges, Miles McBride, Jose Alvarado, Mohamed Diawara, and Ariel Hukporti was the starting five.

• McBride dressed as he works to find his footing heading into the playoffs, and he finally showed flashes of his old form in the early going. The backup guard was New York's most effective scorer all night, leading the team with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and four threes.

• New York saw plenty of other positives from their depth filling out the starting lineup throughout the night. Alvarado was everywhere with a final line of 13-5-6, Hukporti dominated the boards with a season-high eight, and Diawara tied his career-high with five assists.

• Jeremy Sochan and Kevin McCullar Jr. also put together strong showings off the bench. Sochan provided a spark in the third quarter and finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists. McCullar knocked down 6-of-11 attempts from the field to set a new career-high, 14 points.

• LaMelo Ball led the way for Charolette with five threes, seven rebounds, and six assists. Coby White had himself a night off the bench, chipping in 19 points off the bench, and Kon Knueppel finished his stellar rookie campaign with three threes and 19 points of his own.

• Despite being a bit overmatched, the Knicks' backups continued to show fight throughout the night. They were able to cut the deficit back down to eight points at one point early in the third quarter, but ultimately saw that stretched back out in the closing minutes of the final frame.

• New York finishes the regular season 53-29, good enough for third place in the Eastern Conference.

What's next

The Knicks kick off the postseason and the quest for their third NBA title.