Baker’s first career start comes as Lee

COURTNEY Lee, the $50 million signing, was supplanted in the lineup by an undrafted rookie. In an effort to jolt his struggling squad, Jeff Hornacek started rookie Ron Baker at shooting guard for Monday’s matinee against the Hawks at the Garden. It was Baker's first career start. Lithuanian rookie Mindaugas Kuzminskas also started for the first time this season.

The changes didn’t produce results, though. The Knicks lost, 108-107. Baker scored 12 points in just under 22 minutes. Kuzminskas added 14 points on six of 10 shooting in a team-high 38 minutes.

“You’re looking for little things. Who is going to do the little things on this team? Who is going to take charges? Who is going to make the extra pass? Who is going to make sure defensively that this guy gets stopped or that guy gets stopped?” Hornacek said before the game.

Despite the loss, Hornacek was pleased with what he saw from Baker and Kuzminskas, who suffered a cut under his left eye and was forced to leave the game. He later returned and reported feeling “okay.”

“Kuz, from the start of the year, has gotten much better with kind of understanding the NBA game, the different sets that are run in the NBA. He’s getting a better feel for that,” Hornacek said. “Consequently his defense has picked up. His aggressiveness is much more than it was early in the season defensively. So we like that. And then Ron just competes. He’s in the right spot almost all the time...He’s a very