Hughes Helps Knicks Sting Hornets on Way to Victory

From a miserable preseason to watching the first two games from the bench to finally playing in a reserve role last Saturday, Larry Hughes has had a rollercoaster season so far. That ride, however, ended with the veteran playing a major role as the Knicks starting shooting guard Monday night against the Hornets.

Mike D’Antoni inserted Hughes into the starting lineup with the hope that his offense would help New York avoid another slow start and that his defense would slow down Chris Paul. Hughes made his coach look like a smart man, scoring eight of his 20 points in the opening quarter and holding the Hornets superstar guard to three points in the first half en route to a 117-111 victory at the Garden.

“His biggest attribute is defense,” forward David Lee said. “His length of his arms on defense really bothers the opposing team. He gets a lot of steals and distracts a lot of plays. That was his big contribution. The 20 points was just kind of icing on the cake.”

With Hughes playing swarming perimeter defense, Paul didn’t come alive until the third quarter after the Knicks had already built a 12-point first-half lead. Paul would finish with 32 points and 13 assists and help the Hornets take a six-point third-quarter lead, but the Knicks’ fast start allowed them to avoid another uphill battle at the end of the game.

“We’ve been finishing games strong,” Hughes said. “We just haven’t had that good start that we need to sustain runs and things like that. We got that good start tonight and we were able to hold those guys off when they made runs. We can make runs at anytime, so getting off to that good start helps.”

D’Antoni announced an hour and a half before tip off that Hughes would make the start two nights after scoring 18 points against the Philadelphia Sixers in his first action of the season. He replaced forward Jared Jeffries.

“The big thing about Larry is his maturity,” Lee said. “He’s a veteran. He could have easily been very upset about not playing the first couple of games. Instead he kept his mouth shut and kept working hard and that shows he’s a pro.”

Hughes had lost his spot in D’Antoni’s nine-man rotation following a preseason where he went 1-for-23 from the field. He is now shooting 63 percent through two regular-season games. The Knicks are 1-1 with him in the lineup.

“I worked hard and I stayed in the gym,” said Hughes, who was traded to New York last February. “You know in the preseason I was just trying to feel my way. Only playing a couple minutes here and there I couldn’t get a feel for the game. The regular season is where everything counts.”

Wilson Chandler, who had started the previous three games at shooting guard, moved to power forward and finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Al Harrington, who previously occupied the power forward spot before moving to the sixth-man role on Saturday, poured in 24 points following his career-high 42-point effort against the Sixers.