Allonzo Trier scores 23 off bench as Knicks beat Mavericks

DALLAS — There is a curiosity factor now, and maybe there always will be, when the Knicks and Mavericks match up. The games allow a head-to-head look at the final major move of the Phil Jackson era for the Knicks, measuring up Frank Ntilikina, the player he selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, against Dennis Smith Jr., the player the Mavs grabbed one pick later.

Judging the two lottery picks, however, is tempered by their differing skill sets and by the styles implemented by their coaches. The numbers may tell you that Smith took this latest incarnation of the rivalry, easily outscoring Ntilikina with 23 points. But Ntilikina was content to get the one measurement he is seeking — a win. And the Knicks held on in this battle of development projects, 118-106,  at American Airlines Center.

“What I care about is bringing a win to my team,” said Ntilikina, who had seven points, seven assists and three steals in 32 minutes. “To do that, I’ve got to do whatever it takes to bring the most I can give to the team. So that’s what we all care about. We all have the same mind, have the same goal — to make the Knicks be a competitive team and a better team each and every day. That’s my mindset.”

On this night, the play of some of the Knicks’ other young players was a big factor. Rookie Allonzo Trier came off the bench to score a career-best 23 points, shooting 8-for-10 and scoring 14 fourth-quarter points. Damyean Dotson — the actual last pick of the Jackson regime, a round after Ntilikina was taken in the lottery — performed well with 11 points and eight rebounds while matched against the latest Mavs lottery pick, Luka Doncic (18 points). And Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks’ second-rounder from the 2018 draft, had 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18 points for the Knicks, who brought a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter after outscoring the Mavericks 33-18 in the third. The Knicks’ reserves outscored the Mavericks’ reserves 65-38.

As the Knicks were taking command of the game in the third quarter, Robinson provided a made-for-the-highlight-reels dunk. He rolled to the basket and took a lob from Lance Thomas, grabbing it with his back to the basket and slamming in a reverse jam for a 73-66 lead. “I was high in the air,” Robinson said of the dunk. “So why not just go ahead and do something?”

Ntilikina had just finished off the morning shootaround session and was readying for a crowd of reporters when he heard the first mention of De’Aaron Fox. He smiled and recited the stat line the Sacramento Kings point guard had put up a night earlier — 31 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists.

But if you ask Ntilikina about Fox or any of the other point guards who entered the NBA with him as part of a loaded selection of lottery picks, he insists that he doesn’t measure himself against them — even if fans and media do.

When that 2017 draft class — which began with Markelle Fultz at No. 1 and Lonzo Ball at No. 2 and continued through Fox, Ntilikina, Smith and Donovan Mitchell among the top 13 picks — is evaluated by fans, those comparisons generally aren’t flattering for Ntilikina. But  statistics are not what he is about.  He’s never come close to the 31 points that Fox put up, much less a triple-double. Smith topped Ntilikina’s career high of 17 points 25 times as a rookie.

Ntilikina didn’t get a start at point guard as a rookie. Even this season, with a new coach in David Fizdale, he started as a wing the first five games before finally being put in place as the Knicks’ starting point guard.

“Well, the biggest thing I was trying to accomplish was just take that weight off of him,” Fizdale said. “I felt it for him as soon as I got the job, mainly from you guys and the fans, of, ‘Frank’s got to be this guy, he’s got to do this.’ I just said, you know what, let’s just pull him away from that for a minute and let him just be a player.

“I think it gave him some clarity. By taking that off him, just being a wing out there, he saw different things about how the team functions. He saw how he can be effective. Then when I put the ball back in his hands, I think he felt a lot more at ease and not ‘I have to do this, I have to be this.’ So I’m really happy with how he’s going through the process. So far, so good. It’s led to some really good confidence for him.”