Lonzo Ball was the rookie point guard whom the masses flocked to the Garden to eyeball Tuesday. The young Lakers stud did not disappoint.
But neither did the Knicks’ guy, Frank Ntilikina. Maybe seeing the 6-foot-6 Ball, who was the No. 2 pick in the draft, revved up the fellow 19-year-old.
“I have the same motivation going after every point guard in the league,” Ntilikina said.
Those around him stepped back, fearing his pants would catch fire or they would get poked in the head as the French kid’s nose grew exponentially. Even his coach, Jeff Hornacek, wasn’t buying that Ntilikina viewed what became a 113-109 Knicks victory in overtime as “just another game” in a string of 82.
“Frank, he has the mentality of a basketball player. That’s why he’s going to be a great player in this league. Again, he doesn’t shy from anything. He likes those challenges. He was ready to go,” Hornacek said. “When we were lining up for the anthem, I looked over at Frank and said, ‘Are you ready to go?’ He said, ‘I’m ready, are you ready, Coach?’ You could tell he was ready.”
Ntilikina ended up scoring 13 points, passing for five assists and grabbing five rebounds. Ball had 17 points, six assists and eight rebounds — and lots of respect for his counterpart.
“He’s very tough to guard and he proved that tonight,” said Ball, whose dad, LaVar, from courtside gave Ntilikina earfuls every time he passed by. “He’s a great player. He’s young just like me playing in a big city and trying to find his way. Much respect to him, and all the best moving forward.”
And every game, Ntilikina just gets better. Hornacek spoke beforehand about trying not to wear out the rookie. But he used him for the final 21 minutes and was not disappointed.
“It helps me getting experience, like playing this time, learning how to play in this time, overtime. So just getting experience, being on the court at that moment,” said Ntilikina, who equally was impressed with Ball.
“I thought it was great. Playing against him was exciting. He’s a great player. He’s going to be great. He has size, vision, unbelievable vision of the court. I mean, he can make plays,” said Ntilikina, who crammed seven of his points into the fourth quarter, consecutively. “So he’s exciting, as exciting playing against all the point guards, but he’s very good.”