New York Knicks: Despite the winning, David Fizdale’s lineup decisions are questionable
By Sam Friedman
The New York Knicks continue their hot streak, but Fizdale makes lineup decisions that continue to be head scratching.
The New York Knicks are riding a high of the season, winners of three straight.
These wins have come against the Boston Celtics, New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. All teams that are significantly better than the Knicks.
Before this streak, the Knicks had not won back to back games all season. This is a nice time to be a Knicks fan, especially because of the win over the Celtics.
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The Knicks roll into Detroit Tuesday night, followed by Philadelphia to end their road trip.
The Knicks have looked good, but in a season where the team has 0% chance of making the playoffs, some of the lineup decisions have been extremely questionable.
Please note, Fizdale has tooled around with the lineups throughout the season.
The Knicks have been successful with a few different lineups, most notably: Enes Kanter,
Noah Vonleh , Tim Hardaway Jr. , Emmanuel Mudiay and Allonzo Trier .
These five have played 17 minutes together and have net rating of 26.6. That could be something to pay attention to.
Outside of this lineup, most of the other combinations have been less than spectacular.
So why would Fizdale be not playing the young players?
It honestly doesn’t make much sense.
Against the Celtics last Wednesday, Kevin Knox played a normal 26 minutes. Then, out of nowhere, Knox played nine minutes vs. the Pelicans and only seven against the Grizzlies.
I understand the kid hasn’t been everything he has been hyped up to be, but not playing him will not help his development.
Mario Hezonja should not be doubling and even tripling Knox’s minutes, ever.
The other question comes with Damyean Dotson.
The last four games have been healthy scratches for Dotson.
Again, extremely head scratching considering that Hezonja and Frank Ntilikina both are getting considerable minutes, despite being two inept basketball players.
Dotson started off the season playing very well, including starting more than enough games.
It’s easy to succumb to the narrative that “Frank provides more defensively”, but both share a mediocre defensive game right now.
Dotson provides more on the glass and in the bucket getting category.
The rationale behind these two not playing doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Not playing Knox because he is a rookie refutes the minutes Ntilikina gets. Playing to win games, instead of tanking, also doesn’t make sense as Dotson provides more than both Ntilikina and Hezonja.
Next. How the Knicks could land John Wall, Bradley Beal, or both. dark
Moral of the story: Ntilikina and Hezonja shouldn’t sniff the court.