Kon Knueppel says he "feels good" despite a lingering injury, but insisted the Charlotte Hornets' mentality is what led to their big win over the New York Knicks.

The Hornets snapped the Knicks' seven-game winning streak with a 114-103 victory on Thursday, with Knueppel making history.

He finished with 26 points and made six 3-pointers to become the youngest player in NBA history with 250 in a single NBA season.

The 20-year-old almost had his first career triple-double, as well, getting 10 rebounds and eight assists.

While Knueppel was thrilled to have a big impact, he noted how important a factor the team's approach was against a tough Knicks side.

"I feel good. A little frustrating to have a nagging injury, you know, not really holding me out to play, but you just don't feel your best," he said.

"Having the body fresh and playing our brand of hoops led to a good individual game for me.

"I just thought we came out with a good mentality to play our brand of basketball and brought the physicality to the game that we needed.

"It's a commitment to what we do, establishing an identity as a team, and our coaching staff has done a really good job of doing that. There's definitely a lot of buy-in from all of our guys right now.

"When you focus on doing your best, that puts us in the best position for future seeding or whatever place in the standings we get."

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— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) March 27, 2026

The Knicks have boasted the best defence in the league since January, but they struggled to match the Hornets' pace from the opening tip.

Jalen Brunson had 26 points and 13 assists for New York, who would have clinched a play-off berth with a victory, while OG Anunoby added 17.

It was not enough, though, and coach Mike Brown also rued the Knicks' struggle on rebounds.

"They just kicked our behinds on the glass," Brown said. "We need more production on the glass than what we got from a handful of guys.

"If you're going to go on the road and let a team out-rebound you 43-24, it's not even close because we didn't put bodies on bodies. We didn't hit first."