Hornets 109
Knicks 98
An All-Star was born last night at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Larry Brown sees a lot of Isiah Thomas in the Hornets’ Rookie of the Year frontrunner Chris Paul. Unfortunately, Thomas is in his 40s, watching helplessly, just a suit in the Garden tunnel last night as the 6-foot smooth-as-silk point guard Paul sliced up the Knicks in a 109-98 rout at the Garden.
Paul kept getting pounded, kept hitting the deck, but kept rising up to drill the Knicks for 27 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds. The vagabond Hornets are now the .500 Hornets (20-20), with Brown disciple Byron Scott making a case for Coach of the Year.
The Knicks (13-26), who fell behind by 20 points midway through the fourth, are falling apart again, losers of five straight, sinking to the league’s third-worst record and falling a fat 5½ games out of the eighth seed. During their now-distant six-game winning streak, the Knicks had closed within two games.
This slide is demonstrating how vital Stephon Marbury is, as he’s been missed straight with a sprained left shoulder, two of them blowout losses. Brown was so desperate for a point guard last night he used Trevor Ariza at the position.
Paul took advantage of Marbury’s absence as well as that of enforcer Antonio Davis, who served the second of his five-game suspension for rushing into the stands Wednesday in Chicago.
Paul, a Wake Forest product, went to the wrong North Carolina school, but Brown, a UNC alum, still loves him.
“The young kid is as good a young point guard as I’ve ever seen,” Brown said before Paul’s Garden debut.
Brown said Paul reminded him of Isiah.
“They have that little boyish grin and they’ll rip your head off,” Brown said.
Paul had a terrific, if painful, first half. His fluid, graceful feints to the basket overmatched Jamal Crawford.
Paul got to the line 14 times in the half and hit the deck almost as many. He couldn’t be stopped, finishing with 20 points, five assists and four rebounds, making 11 of 14 free throws by intermission.
Paul toyed with the Knicks late in the third. After Crawford had the ball poked away by Speedy Claxton at midcourt, Paul grabbed it and could’ve easily strode in for a layup. He lobbed it up for Claxton for an alley-oop dunk and an 85-67 lead.
Brown called timeout and chewed out rookie Channing Frye and Crawford for not getting back on defense.
“It kills me,” Brown said. “I write on the board: Play hard, play tough, play smart. It’s tough when you’ve got young guys out there. They shouldn’t be in this position.”In the final seconds of the third, Paul made a steal at midcourt and fed rugged Chris Anderson for a wild driving slam, after which he taunted the fans with a bizarre crossing-the-arms gesture.
Paul first got hurt when he skied to the basket and made a midair feed to P.J. Brown. He was hacked and banged his neck into Frye’s elbow with 2:30 left in the half. In the dying seconds of the half, Paul was fouled in the backcourt by newly minted point guard Ariza, who poked Paul’s eye instead of the ball. A blurry Paul still sank the two freebies.
Paul, selected fourth overall, was dazzling yet controlled. His no-look flip on the dead run to David West led to a layup and three-point play.
Without Marbury and with Nate Robinson picking up his third foul, the Knicks used Ariza at point guard periodically.
marc.berman@nypost.com
