King’s royal decree
Knox meets James, who tells rookie to pass more
TORONTO — It was about 10 minutes in real time. Knicks coach David Fizdale hopes it lasts 10 years.
After several foiled attempts, Fizdale got rookie Kevin Knox to huddle with LeBron James after the Knicks pulled out a 124-123 victory in the final seconds Sunday at the Garden. James went from hero to goat after a last-second block by Mario Hezonja.
But King James still held court to advise Knox and do his former Miami assistant coach a solid. Fizdale introduced Knox to James by the Lakers’ locker room just as Knox was leaving to see family.
“I was just about to walk out and then Todd, the security guy, told me Fiz wanted me to see him,’’ said Knox, who scored 12 points on 4for-14 shooting to go with one assist in a 128-92 blowout loss to the Raptors on Monday. “I knew if Fiz wanted to see me, it was something important. So you can’t say no to [the] head coach. When I saw him he was calling me out there, I must be going to meet LeBron. Put my stuff down, I was like, my family can wait. My parents, they weren’t mad at all. I told them who I was talking to and they were like, that was great. Appreciate Fiz for giving me the opportunity. Not a lot of coaches have that luxury to be able to introduce their rookies and young players to some of the veterans like he does.”
Fizdale stood next to the players as they chatted, saying one important message was “not to listen to you guys.’’ Fizdale said that includes social media as much as newspapers and television.
“He was all smiles after the game,’’ Knox said. “I was telling him about social media, that I had deleted the apps and he was telling me, ‘Yeah man, what if I went on social media and looked at the comments of me getting my shot blocked by Mario [Hezonja].’ He started laughing and he was just like, all that stuff is just poison. He was like, ‘I’m not even going to go on social media. It’s just one game, I’ve got a lot more games left. You’re not going to make every single game-winning shot.’ He just had a positive attitude, even after a loss and a great block by Mario. He had a positive attitude and just gave me as much advice as he could.”
The one basketball pointer Knox got from James hinted toward a Knox weakness — playmaking. In the rookie’s up-and-down season, Knox entered Monday’s game against the Raptors averaging a single assist per game.
“Something that I’m getting better at — he’s one of the best probably of all time in just getting everyone involved and being able to score,” Knox said. “He was saying you’ve got to be able to impact the game other than scoring. He said he’s watched me a lot, that’s something I’m getting better at, but it’s something I’ve got to improve. That’s something I’ll definitely work on this summer. He’s one of the greatest to ever do it. Just getting in the lab this summer, finish out the season strong and just try to get my teammates involved.” Rookie center Mitchell Rob
inson tied Patrick Ewing’s rookie record of posting at least one block in 28 straight contests. Robinson had three in Toronto on Monday but also injured Kyle
Lowry’s ankle late in the game, falling into him.
“I think it was a little bit dirty but he’s a young kid, so I don’t know if he did it on purpose,” Lowry said.