Friday night in New Orleans featured yet another new starting five from David Fizdale and the Knicks. And despite the close loss, Fizdale was impressed by how it looked throughout the game.
All three Knicks rookies were penciled in, as Allonzo Trier joined MItchell Robinson and Kevin Knox at tip off. Fizdale mentioned before the game yesterday that all three players have earned their spots, and it was time to see what they could do together.
"I just wanted to keep an open mind to everything and see how it plays out," Fizdale told The Post's Marc Berman. "All of these guys to their credit have really shown some great moments in the NBA. So I figured why not look at them all together out there with Timmy and with our best passer and see how that looks if they're moving up and down the court fast."
The move was a clear success to start the game, with the Knicks racking up a 22-11 lead before Fizdale made some changes.
It was the breath of fresh air the first-year head coach has been searching for.
"That was the best start we had in a really long time," Fizdale said. "I was happy they set a good tone for us tonight."
So it looks like Fizdale is going to keep this five-player set on the floor to start the game moving forward. He has noted in the past that no matter the outcome, he wants to see how these lineups work themselves out over a bigger sample size.
Trier finished the game with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting to go along with two rebounds and five assists over 32 minutes. Robinson, who had a tough challenge working on Anthony Davis down low, had six points while Knox finished with 11 points as well.
Getting the starting nod at such a young age can be viewed as a player that "made it." However, this group of youngsters knows there's a lot of work to get done. For Knox, rebounding is a point of emphasis, especially playing in the frontcourt.
"I know at the 4, I'm going to have to rebound a lot more," Knox, who had five boards last night.
This unit will get another crack to impress their head coach -- and the Knicks fanbase -- on Sunday against a Magic team that blew them out at home.