SAN ANTONIO _ Coach David Fizdale ended the speculation, the rumors, the questions, the debate when he named his starting five for the Knicks' season opener about 90 minutes before tip-off.
After a preseason point guard competition among Dennis Smith Jr., Elfrid Payton and Frank Ntilikina, the Knicks' starting point guard was ... RJ Barrett.
"I just think he can handle it," Fizdale said. "He's just got a way about him. I really like the way that he plays the game. He's just so versatile and really understands what we're trying to get done. I wanted to see how it looked with a guy in there with a guy with that size handling."
Barrett answered with a solid performance, one of the bright spots for the Knicks in a 120-111 loss to the Spurs at AT&T Center in their season-opener on Wednesday night.
The rookie finished with 21 points, five rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes. He shot 9 of 13 from the field.
The Knicks got off to an awful start, allowing the Spurs to build an early 10-point lead and struggling badly to make a shot.
They tightened up on defense and started working their way back into the game, propelled by Barrett, Marcus Morris and Julius Randle, who had 25 points.
They maintained that defensive intensity for most of the game, forcing turnovers and getting out on the break.
Barrett, Randle and Morris, who had 26 points, continued to provide the bulk of the offensive load.
After Rudy Gay converted a three-point play in the final minutes of the third quarter to put the Spurs ahead, Barrett made a tough layup to retake the lead for the Knicks.
But then San Antonio pulled away again in the fourth quarter.
Dejounte Murray drained a 3-pointer from the right corner with five minutes remaining to put the Spurs up by eight, part of an 18-0 run for San Antonio.
That was the game.
