Ntilikina’s wild night a learning experience

Frank Ntilikina managed to wrap a typical rookie season all into one night Monday at the Garden.

After shooting 0-for-4 with a turnover in the first half, the Knicks point guard was benched for the entire third quarter. He showed some life in the fourth as the Knicks mounted a comeback, but it was hardly enough in a 103-91 loss to the Trail Blazers.

“As a teammate, you see your teammate get in the game and the game is not going that good,” Ntilikina said. “So you do as much as you can off the court. I was on the bench, so I talked to the guys.”

Ntilikina finished shooting 3-of-11 with one rebound, one assist and one turnover as his recent stretch of tough games continued.

The French guard’s struggles were captured late in the fourth quarter, when he rushed a deep two-point field goal on the fast break. It clanked off the rim as the Knicks’ comeback was taking its last gasps.

“Guys are trying to make plays and trying to get us back in the game,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. “We had a little momentum, but that’s where we have to learn who our shooters are. And Frank can make that shot. … He felt like he could make that, and that’s a lesson we’ll have to learn.”

Ntilikina also received a technical foul in the fourth quarter for shoving Jusuf Nurkic after the Trail Blazers center and Michael Beasley got into a heated exchange.

“I pushed him and I just wanted to spread the two guys out,” Ntilikina said. “That’s what happened.”

➤ One reason for the Knicks’ lackluster showing on offense, to the tune of 37 first-half points and 39.8 percent field-goal shooting for the game: taking the wrong type of shots.

“They dared us to take long 2s, and we continually did that,” Hornacek said. “We were settling for that.”

The Knicks shot 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) on 2-pointers outside the paint.

➤ Instead of adding reserve combo guard Ron Baker to the active roster in Enes Kanter’s absence — the spot went to center Joa- kim Noah — the Knicks assigned Baker to G-League affiliate Westchester, where he scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds in 37 minutes in a 104-95 win over the Windy City Bulls on Monday.

Hornacek said the organization wanted Baker to work off the rust after he was impaired by an ankle injury in the early going of his second NBA season.

Baker, 24, signed a twoyear, $8.9 million contract in the offseason.