The Charlotte Hornets don't need Alonzo Mourning to beat the New York Knicks.
With Mourning traded to Miami, the Hornets turned to reserve Matt Geiger to beat back Patrick Ewing and Co. on Wednesday night."I was battling Patrick all night. We were getting in his face and not letting him get any easy shots," Geiger said. "It's hard to guard a great center."
Geiger scored all of his 10 points in the fourth quarter - matching Ewing's game total - and helped hold Ewing to one second-half basket as the Hornets won 115-105, Charlotte's seventh victory over the Knicks in their last nine meetings.
In other NBA games, it was Boston over Detroit 100-96, Atlanta over Philadelphia 106-81, San Antonio over the Los Angeles Clippers 105-86, the Los Angeles Lakers over Phoenix 107-96, and Portland over Golden State 112-98.
While Charlotte has dominated the Knicks since losing to them in the 1993 playoffs, this is the first time the Hornets have played New York since trading Mourning to the Miami Heat.
No problem.
Geiger, obtained by Charlotte in the Mourning trade, outscored Ewing 10-2 in the fourth quarter. His slam dunk snapped a 93-93 tie, putting the Hornets in front for good. Then he added four free throws.
"This is the highest point of our season so far," Geiger said. "We're within one game of the .500 level (7-8)."
Ewing shot only 5-for-17 and missed a short jumper with around a minute left in the game.
"I was very frustrated with a lot of things," Ewing said. "I was being fouled a lot. We allowed a team we should beat to turn around and beat us, and that should not happen."
Larry Johnson and Glen Rice each scored 25 points for the Hornets, while John Starks paced the Knicks with 27 points.
Trail Blazers 112, Warriors 98
Even 7-foot-3 Arvydas Sabonis got in the act as Portland hit a team-record 13 3-pointers in winning at Golden State. The Trail Blazers tied an NBA record with 10 3-pointers in the first half.
Sabonis hit three 3-pointers and totaled 23 points, while Rod Strickland led the way with 24 points, including four 3-pointers. Clifford Robinson had five 3-pointers and Randolph Childress one.
"It's something that's been good for us all year," Portland coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "When teams double Clifford, he does a really good job of kicking it out for 3s."
Rookie Joe Smith had 23 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors.
Lakers 107, Suns 96
At Inglewood, Cedric Ceballos had 24 points and Vlade Divac 20 in the Lakers' win over Phoenix.
The Suns trailed by as many as 22 points late in the third quarter before rallying within five on a 3-pointer by Michael Finley with 36 seconds left. But the Lakers scored the game's final five points on three free throws by George Lynch and a breakaway dunk by Nick Van Exel.
Charles Barkley and Wesley Person led the Suns with 16 points apiece.
Spurs 105, Clippers 86
In San Antonio, David Robinson scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Spurs. Chuck Person, starting for the injured Sean Elliott, added 22 points, including six 3-pointers.
The Spurs broke open a close game with a 13-3 run in the last three minutes of the third quarter for an 80-67 advantage. Robinson had six points in the run.
Loy Vaught led Los Angeles with 15 points but had only three in the second half.
Hawks 106, 76ers 81
Ken Norman led a balanced Atlanta attack with 15 points against visiting Philadelphia, which suffered its eighth straight loss.
Mookie Blaylock had 14 points, Andrew Lang 13, rookie Alan Henderson and Stacey Augmon 12 each, and Spud Webb 11 in the Hawks' third straight victory.
Jerry Stackhouse, the league's top-scoring rookie, led Philadelphia with 22 points.
Celtics 100, Pistons 96
Rick Fox sank two free throws with 10 seconds left, then made a game-saving play seven seconds later to lead Boston over visiting Detroit.
With six seconds left, Fox tipped a missed free throw rebound back to center court, where Dee Brown grabbed it, was fouled and hit both free throws to ice the victory.
Dino Radja led the Celtics with 29 points and 15 rebounds, while Allan Houston had 31 points and Grant Hill 29 for Detroit.