Next man up. That’s the mantra every team lives by.

But you could hardly have blamed Jeremy Lamb if he wasn’t expecting the tap on the shoulder from Hornets coach Steve Clifford Saturday night.

After all, Lamb had played just 47 minutes in four prior games the entire season, mostly due to a hamstring injury that kept him on the shelf for more than three weeks.

But after Nicolas Batum suffered a corneal abrasion while also flirting with a triple-double (18 points, nine rebounds, nine assists) on Friday night in New York, it was Lamb’s turn to step in.

What Lamb did was step up. And up and up. By the time he was through, Lamb rung up 18 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Hornets in snapping their four-game losing streak with a 107-102 win over the Knicks. The 36 minutes Lamb played were the most in a single game in his five-year NBA career.