No one could see this one coming. Not the New York Knicks, despite their recent string of losses and plunge in the standings. Not the Hornets either -- they hadn't exactly been burning through the NBA themselves.

So how does a matchup of NBA teams in serious need of a victory produce something like the Hornets' 111-68 Monday matinee devastation of the Knicks? It was New York's worst loss at Madison Square Garden.

"Today there was a sense of urgency with us, to be honest," Charlotte forward P.J. Brown said. "It came down to us really needing this game. We knew they were on a losing streak and would be desperate."

Desperate, perhaps. Responsive? Not at all.

This one had everything the Hornets (19-21) have been searching for in a season marked by sharp performance swings. High energy and aggressive play from the outset. Smothering defense. Easy baskets. No letup. Game-long consistency.

That level of play was seldom evident in the previous four games, three of them losses. Monday, the Hornets parlayed all that, with ridiculous ease, into a 24-point first-quarter lead. They eventually ran the margin out to 45 points well before the final buzzer offered the Knicks some relief.

"That's what we've been lacking all season ... a killer instinct," said point guard Baron Davis. "We jumped on them real hard and in the second quarter I think we played even better. Usually we let teams right back into a ball game. Today our defensive intensity was there the whole day."

The size of the defeat and an inability to put up any sort of a counter brought a steady chorus of boos down from the Garden seats and left the Knicks (14-25) feeling as whipped mentally as physically.

"I think we have reached rock bottom," New York guard Latrell Sprewell said. "This is the worst we have felt as a team this" season.

The loss was New York's eighth in a row and its 16th in 19 games under interim coach Don Chaney.

Defense, a trademark of Knicks teams for years, was soft and slow. This time it was Charlotte's work on defense that made the big impact.

Coach Paul Silas made a switch in assignments, putting 6-foot-9 Lee Nailon on 6-3 New York point guard Mark Jackson. That freed Hornets guards Davis and David Wesley to use their quickness and pressure the Knicks' top scorers, Allan Houston (20.2 average) and Sprewell (19.1).

"We just had a defensive focus that we were going to go out and stop people," Silas said. "Putting Lee on Jackson was a big key."

The defense kept New York's scoring in the teens in each quarter. It allowed the Knicks a meager 30.1 shooting percentage (16.7 percent in the second quarter).

Davis, in his most assertive performance in weeks, finished with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting, nine assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Wesley and Nailon followed with 16 points apiece. The bench had 38 points and 23 rebounds.

"Charlotte came out and shot the ball extremely well," New York forward Kurt Thomas said. "They picked up their pressure on the defensive end and we just couldn't get it done. It was the worst game I have ever been a part of."