Kevin Knox, Emmanuel Mudiay will start Wednesday night as Knicks shake up lineup

It will be Knox' first career start

11/14/2018, 4:57 PM
Oct 20, 2018; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Kevin Knox (20) and Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris (13) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz
Oct 20, 2018; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks forward Kevin Knox (20) and Boston Celtics forward Marcus Morris (13) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports / Wendell Cruz

The Knicks are shaking up their lineup for Wednesday night's game, with Kevin Knox and Emmanuel Mudiay in, replacing Damyean Dotson and Frank Ntilikina.

Ntilikina had been struggling with his shot recently, with head coach David Fizdale limiting him to six minutes during Sunday's loss to the Magic.

Knox, who recently returned after dealing with an ankle injury, has been shaking off the rust while coming off the bench and will be making his first career start. 

Fizdale hinted after the loss to Orlando that changes could be coming.

"We're going to look at some more stuff, me and the staff, as we get on the plane," Fizdale told The New York Post's Marc Berman. "Look at some group and some lineups. There may be some changes, but I'm not there yet."

The reason behind Fizdale making changes is not only due to the Knicks' blowouts, but also the team's assist totals. The Knicks are dead last in the NBA with 19.1 assists per game, which would indicate their offense is solely isolation plays or second-chance points around the rim most of the time.

It's a stat that Fizdale doesn't want to see next to the team's name.

"That makes me yack, to be honest with you," he said. "But we can only go from there. Yes, I hate that we're last in the league in assists. It drives me crazy."

Before the change, Ntilikina said he recognized that he has to play better.

"When you get down, you got to keep going until you go up again," Ntilikina said. "That's my mindset, and I'm pretty confident about my abilities and I know I'm going to play better the next couple of games."

But, through all the maneuvering, Fizdale wanted to point out that any changes are not "demotions."

"It could be a lot of different things," he said. "I'm still just trying to evaluate who fits who, what combinations work together. None of this is about demotions or some guys not [doing] this, some guys not [doing] that.

"We're trying to figure out who works with who. What talents play well together, which ones really don't play well together. That's ultimately what we're trying to do."

Popular in the Community