The Knicks finished their preseason Friday with a Garden loss to the Nets, a 3-2 record and no official answer on who will be the starting point guard on opening night.
However, things cleared up a bit as Emmanuel Mudiay didn’t get in until 8:12 left in the 113-107 loss — an indicator he may not win the starting job when the Knicks make their season debut at home Wednesday versus the Hawks. However, Mudiay was on the court when the Knicks made a fourth-quarter comeback.
Frank Ntilikina, the Knicks’ 2017 lottery pick from France, performed the best during the preseason in the point-guard derby and filled up the boxscore Friday with nine points, five assists and four rebounds and was active on defense. But coach David Fizdale has hinted he likes Ntilikina coming off the bench, off the ball and playing multiple positions.
Could that affect rookie Kevin Knox? With Knox fading as the preseason wore on, it would take a bold move for Fizdale to start Trey Burke, Ntilikina and Tim Hardaway Jr. in a three-guard offense and making the 2018 lottery pick Knox the sixth man.
Hardaway left late in the third quarter and was diagnosed with a sprained left wrist. He has had right-wrist issues in the past.
Knox started all five preseason games, but was plagued by foul trouble and scored just three points on 1-of-6 shooting with five fouls on Friday. Knox finished the preseason 16-of-49 and was particularly off in his three games at the Garden.
It sounded after the game as if Fizdale will stick with Knox as a starter, at least for now.
“He’s got to go through this,” said Fizdale, who added it could be “temporary.”
Ron Baker got the opportunity to start and looked fine with his defensive tenacity, but Fizdale went back to Burke to start the second half. Burke hit a 55-foot buzzer-beater from halfcourt to close the first quarter. He posted nine points and three assists in 20 minutes.
The Knicks ended their preseason by attempting to come back from 21 points down in the second half. The rally was spearheaded by the 3-point shooting of center Luke Kornet, who drilled three consecutive treys in the final quarter, got the Knicks within five points and was called for a phantom foul with 1:00 left on a driving D’Angelo Russell, who had 18 points. Spencer Dinwiddie led Brooklyn with 19 points and Joe Harris added 16.
Enes Kanter rested his iced-up knees and rookie Mitchell Robinson started. Robinson recorded seven points with three assists and two blocks and he finally took a mid-range jump shot. It was a blooper moment as Robinson’s 15-footer sailed wide right by several feet. Robinson hadn’t taken a long-range shot in summer league or previously during preseason.
Fizdale said he doesn’t want his announcement of the starting lineup to be treated “as D-Day” by the players.
“Whoever starts on opening night doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to start the whole season,’’ Fizdale said. “So I’m not really looking at that as D-Day when it comes to our starters.’’
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