The New York Knicks fell to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night in their third preseason game. However, the final score was hardly the most intriguing aspect of the night. The game served as an audition for Dennis Smith Jr. and Frank Ntilikina as head coach David Fizdale mulls over the starting point guard job.
The defensive-minded French guard was impressive while Smith stalled. Elfrid Payton is still in the mix, but Fizdale wanted to see more of Ntilikina and Smith in this game, hence Payton’s DNP.
"Dennis hadn't played at all, so I needed to get some quality minutes with Dennis" – David Fizdale gave Elfrid Payton a DNP-CD tonight, but he's still in the mix at guard pic.