Knicks trio on guard for Celtics

Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek said he has been encouraged by his three young guards recently, but now the trio faces a tall task.

Emmanuel Mudiay, Frank Ntilikina and even Trey Burke, who scored 26 points off the bench in Thursday’s 120-113 win over the Magic, will be going up against Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry with the Celtics scheduled for Saturday and Warriors on Monday.

Hornacek was open to the idea of giving all three a chance to guard Irving at some point in Saturday’s game at Madison Square Garden.

“Possible,” he said at Friday’s practice. “Let’s see how they’re handling, how the guards out there who are guarding them are handling him. And it’s not just, ‘hey that guy’s got to guard Kyrie.’ You’ve got to have a team defense that’s there to back him up when Kyrie gets around. So again, they’ll probably all end up with a shot at him at some point.”

The Knicks, 24-36 and 11th in the Eastern Conference, have shifted their focus to developing their younger players in recent games and how their guards, particularly Mudiay and Ntilikina, play down the stretch will be important in determining their future roles with the team.

Mudiay, who was acquired in a three-way trade on Feb. 8, started his first game with the Knicks Thursday night and finished with eight points, four assists and five rebounds in 23 minutes.

Meanwhile, Ntilikina and Burke each played 30 minutes off the bench and played most of the fourth quarter in the win over the Magic.

“I think they all did well,” Hornacek said. “Emmanuel made some great passes that we probably haven’t (made) … The last couple days I felt pretty comfortable having Trey and Frank in there together so I like what I saw from those three guys.”

The combination of Burke and Ntilikina also meant moving Ntilikina, the 19-year-old rookie, over as a twoguard, a position he is less familiar with.

“I think it’s challenging but exciting because it’s always fun,” Ntilikina said. “You try new things, you try new stuff to compete and try to get some wins.”

It was just the third time Ntilikina, who is battling a sore knee, logged 30 minutes this season, but the rookie said he felt fine on Friday.

Hornacek was particularly impressed with the chemistry Ntilikina and Burke, who was called up from Westchester in January, had together off the bench and appeared to like the idea of keeping them together.

“They can run different things,” Hornacek said. “Trey is very good in pick and rolls and Frank was able to get on the weak side and do that so the focus isn’t all on him. Trey comes off and swings it to Frank and set a pick and roll there, so there is not as much focus and allows Frank to do a few things.”

The Knicks have 22 games remaining and one of Hornacek’s biggest challenges will be managing the minutes Mudiay, Ntilikina — both top 10 first-round draft picks — and Burke, a former first-round bust, receive during the final stretch of the season.

“These three guys,” Hornacek said. “If they approach it as ‘hey let’s all make each other better and not worry about that stuff’ then it will work out for all of them.”

HOT HICKS: The Knicks will call up forward Isaiah Hicks for Saturday’s game vs. Boston while forward Luke Kornet will head back down to Westchester.

KNICKS vs. CELTICS 7:30 on MSG