By MARC BERMAN
TORONTO – Mike D’Antoni has his work cut out for him in finding the right guard mix. But after tonight’s preseason opener, a 113-111 loss to Toronto, he may have pegged his starting froncourt tandem in Zach Randolph and David Lee, who were beasts and highlighted the Knicks’ very decent effort at Air Canada Centre.
Both guys pounded the boards, ran the floor, finished inside. They seem to have nice chemistry, looking for each other, Eddy Curry didn’t play, asking the coaching staff to sit out, feeling he was not ready after just two practices. Will he ever be ready and does he fit? Wilson Chandler is a gem off the bench at the 4. Eddy looks like an odd man out if Lee and Randolph play like that, combining for 42 points and 23 rebounds..
As far the guards, starting PG Chris Duhon has to be better than this. He was 1 for 7, missing all those open looks, especially from 3-point land, and committed seven turnovers. He’s been a spotty outside shooter his whole career in Chicago. Off the bench, Stephon Marbury was sharp but didn’t handle the ball a lot and took just four shots. He sat the final 8 minutes and he’s probably not thrilled with that. D’Antoni used a ton of three-guard sets, but it will take seven preseason games to find the right mix at the beginning and to close it out.
Ironically, Nate Robinson seems most suited to run this offense with his speedball ways. He can fly and D’Antoni called him “scary” the other day. Can Nate win the job? Stay tuned.