The offense never worked. There was no continuity, no penetration, no easy baskets. The Hornets scored when they got the ball inside to Anthony Mason. Sometimes Mason would hit a tough basket. Sometimes he would get hacked, shoot two free throws and make one.

Mason and Matt Geiger and an edge in the free throws that did go in kept the Knicks from winning easily. But Mason and Geiger and free throws were not enough to keep the Knicks from winning. New York beat the Hornets 97-85.

Geiger finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and mixed it up inside with all the Knicks who were willing to. And all the Knicks were willing to.

The Hornets are not supposed to outrebound New York, but they did, 42-37. But New York's flowing, pretty offense -- the prettier on this night, anyway -- yielded a field goal percentage of 52.2 to Charlotte's 37.1. That was enough for a victory.

The game was odd and ugly. It did not look like an NBA season opener at Charlotte Coliseum.

It looked like an NBA exhibition that would have been played in early October under a tin roof in Fargo or a dome on an obscure campus in Tennessee. If the NFL exhibition season is too long, the NBA's might be too short.

Even Hornets owner George Shinn left five minutes early.

Seventy fouls were called. Late in the game, a group of fans near courtside began demanding female referees.

At the half, Glen Rice, everybody's all-American, had as many fouls as points. The Hornets have yet to win when Rice has as many fouls as points.

Larry Johnson, the former Hornet, opened the game by hitting jump shots from 15, 12 and 16 feet. Johnson often does this, but on Friday, he even hit a couple of baskets in the fourth quarter, too. He finished with 22 points.

Led by the touch of Johnson, the Knicks moved to leads of 8-0 and 10-1. The Hornets caught them in the fourth quarter, actually took a 74-73 lead.

But they had to work too hard to score to keep it. David Wesley, the new free-agent point guard who came south from Boston, looked tentative, tight, and rarely beat his man off the dribble.

New York got to him; the Knicks get to lots of point guards. They pick their man up deep and rarely give him room to move.

``We've got to get him a little more help bringing the ball up court and set some picks for him,'' said Dave Cowens.

It has been a long time since the Hornets have said that about their starting point guard.

The starting point guard who never needed a pick, Muggsy Bogues, never got to play. He didn't even take off his warm-ups. He sat between two players in street clothes, Bobby Phills and Travis Williams. And Williams sat closer to Cowens than Bogues. And Williams is on the injured list.

When Wesley needed a break, it was Tony Delk that Cowens called on to replace him.

Did you think about calling on Bogues?

``Yes,'' said Cowens. ``But I want to go with my guy and I want to let Tony Delk get some minutes.''

This is a new time, and the flowing, pretty offense and the pretty, soft defense that characterized the Hornets of old have been jettisoned.

The Hornets will look good when they shoot well, bad when they don't. They have to get better shots, and most nights they will. Most nights, they don't have to play the Knicks.

And if they get nostalgic, they can always call on Bogues. Last season, his damaged left knee wore down. That has yet to be a problem this season.

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