DALLAS — Advantage, Frank Ntilikina.
In the battle of rookie point guards, Ntilikina had the better game than Dennis Smith Jr., though often times they weren’t on the court together or matched up with one another.
Though on the bench the final four minutes, Ntilikina had a decent outing, scoring seven points, five assists, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks in his 25 minutes. And when he did defend Smith, he shut him down.
Smith scored 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting in 24:33 and added five assists and two steals. The Knicks passed on Smith in last spring’s and LeBron James claimed they blew it.