The Charlotte Hornets suffered yet another heart-breaking defeat in a home game Tuesday night, this time by a 100-95 margin to the New York Knicks.

"That?s kind of a broken record right now," said coach Paul Silas, whose team fell to 3-7 at home this season in front of another sparse crowd at the Charlotte Coliseum.

Tri-captain David Wesley said the defeats ? and the dwindling fan support ? are within his team?s control.

Because, if the wins don?t come, he fears the worst.

"We?re going to go and mess around and lose the few fans we?ve got," Wesley said. "Nobody wants to see us keep losing."

Whether it?s ownership?s continued pursuit of another city for the team, bad luck or bad play, this Hornets team is off to the slowest start at home in the franchise?s 14-year history.

Only the 1989-90 Hornets, who went a franchise-worst 19-63, started off 3-7 at home. And that team won its next home game.

"I don?t know what it is," tri-captain P.J. Brown said. "It?s hard to explain. Maybe we have more of a sense of urgency on the road that we?ve got to find at home."

Even worse, each of the seven home defeats have come by 10 points or less.

Brown thinks possibly the defense is off balance.

"It seems like when we needed defensive stops in the past, we?d get them, especially at home," Brown said. "We?re not getting them right now."

Whatever the reason, the Hornets? imbalanced home and road records make little sense, especially in this season?s compacted Eastern Conference race.

Charlotte, 11-13 overall, is the only team in the league with a better road record than home record. And only Miami (3-9) has a worse home record.

"You expect to win at home," Silas said. "And I don?t know if we?re of that mindset right now."

Charlotte led 48-47 at the half, before New York took a game-high 10-point lead in the third quarter.

The Hornets charged back behind Wesley, Baron Davis and Elden Campbell, but Latrell Sprewell virtually carried New York to victory with 13 points of his game-high 30 points coming in the fourth quarter.

Sprewell hit two clinching free throws with 12.5 seconds left.

The victory snapped New York?s four-game losing streak ? the Knicks? longest since April 1999.

"They needed a win awfully bad," Silas said. "And we didn?t come out with the energy we needed to dominate. And it gave them life."