NEW YORK _ In recent weeks David Fizdale has had to explain his decisions to put Frank Ntilikina on the bench, sitting out the second-year point guard for three straight games. In a night befitting French Heritage Night at Madison Square Garden, the two left to huge ovations just seconds apart in the fourth quarter.
Ntilikina was putting on arguably the best performance of his young career and was called for a pair of questionable foul calls, fouling out of the game with nine minutes left after pouring in a career-high 18 points, all in the second half. Just 27 seconds later, Fizdale, taking up the case for Ntilikina, was tossed with a pair of technical fouls.
There was little else to see as the Knicks fell 119-107 to the Charlotte Hornets, their fourth straight loss.
It provided something to cheer for at least for the fans as the Knicks trailed by as many as 28 points _ a deficit that was cut in half with Ntilikina getting the hot hand to rally the Knicks late in the quarter and into the start of the fourth quarter. His final basket, a foul line jumper, cut the deficit to 14. But when he went down and appeared to score on a drive, he was called for an offensive foul. Seconds later, he was called for a foul while guarding Tony Parker and that was the end. Fizdale angrily argued the calls and then when a timeout was called, he continued stating his case _ drawing the ejection.
The Ntilikina moment, a brief flurry of 13 minutes in which he scored all 18 points, was nice, but hardly the sort of thing that the Knicks have been able to count on every night. On the other hand, New York native Kemba Walker continued to put together the best season of his career, entering the game averaging 25.8 points per game and he poured in 25 on this night, adding six rebounds and six assists.
Walker didn't draw many cries of come home from the crowd, but he is an unrestricted free agent at season's end and while he has spent his entire career in Charlotte he certainly will be on the short list of players the Knicks will try to court with their salary cap space next summer.
In what amounts to a big moment these days for the Knicks the Madison Square Garden crowd was chanting "defense" loudly as the clock was ticking down on the third quarter. The optimism from the home crowd came with the Knicks rallying _ which mean cutting a 28-point deficit to 18. And Walker silenced them by drilling a three-pointer at the buzzer.
For now the Knicks are left with Ntilikina trying to earn back minutes at point guard, minutes he got Sunday thanks in part to a pregame hamstring strain suffered by Allonzo Trier. Emmanuel Mudiay started for the 10th straight game and Trey Burke was sidelined for a fourth straight game with a strained knee.
But after the benching, Ntilikina played well Saturday and followed that up with his best offensive performance of his career.
"I think his deal now is I'm hoping is taking his destiny into his own hands," Fizdale said. "And keep turning your work into production and every time you get your opportunity go out there and make the most of it."
With Ntilikina gone, little-used Ron Baker came in and provided a late spark, too. Kevin Knox matched his career high with 26 points and 15 rebounds.
