The rookie point guard needed an assist.
On his best night as a Knick, Jerian Grant needed help to button the top button of his shirt as he wanted to look his best after the game. A Knicks official gave the needed assist and Grant was off and running.
Even if you have a father and uncle who played in the NBA, there is still quite the learning curve for a rookie point guard. It takes time to succeed.
Grant has been working — often showing up two hours before practice to get extra work — to get better and Tuesday night he said coach Derek Fisher showed all the confidence in the world in him.
That carried him through as he scored 16 points and handed out eight assists and was the difference down the stretch in the Knicks’ stirring 120-114 win over the Celtics at the Garden.
This was a night the Knicks lost Carmelo Anthony to a right ankle sprain and fellow rookie Kristaps Porzingis fouled out.
It was up to Grant to lead the Knicks, and the 19th pick in the draft — whom Phil Jackson and the Knicks acquired in a trade with the Hawks for Tim Hardaway Jr. — did just that.
“The coaches put the ball in my hands and gave me confidence, leaving me in during the fourth quarter and told me to control the game,’’ Grant said.
“I was able to get in the lane, I was able to knock down a couple of shots and I was able to find my teammates.’’
The Knicks finally had a point guard doing point-guard things.
There are so many ways to hit the like button on this season’s edition of the Knicks.
They actually can overcome obstacles like Anthony’s sprained ankle and Porzingis (26 points) fouling out.
“We have a lot of weapons,’’ Grant said, pointing to Arron Afflalo’s 24-point game.
The Knicks moved the basketball. They shot 72 percent in the fourth quarter. In the first half they produced 13 assists by eight different players. Grant and Afflalo each scored 10 in that fourth quarter and Grant did his work against the talented Isaiah Thomas.
“Jerian was big,’’ Fisher said. “He was making plays for himself and other people and really impacted the game in a major way and I thought he was solid defensively. To play against the types of guards that the Celtics put out on the floor and to have eight assists and not turn the ball over, that’s a pretty good effort for a young guard.
“The interesting thing about Jerian is, maybe what [reporters] like to say about me, you don’t know what he’s feeling,’’ Fisher said. “His facial expressions don’t really change. The same kind of attitude, the same kind of daily disposition, so you don’t know if he’s frustrated, OK with it, you just don’t know, but the one thing that you do know is that every morning at least two hours before practice he is on the court working out, improving, putting his time in, doing what he needs to do to get better.’’
Grant said he hopes this performance can jump-start his season.
“I definitely hope so,’’ he said. “To get the minutes I got tonight and perform, hopefully it gives the coaches and my teammates confidence that I can do it again. I’ve been working and to finally get this chance means a lot.’’
Grant called the victory huge because it came against a team the Knicks are fighting against for the playoffs.
Yes, this was a big night for him, too, in many ways because he has not been getting a lot of minutes in Fisher’s rotation.
“I’m getting more comfortable with the NBA game, but with our offense, it is not an easy offense to learn,’’ Grant said. “The more you play, the more you get a hang for it.’’
By the time he dressed, he already had a congratulatory text from his coach at Notre Dame, Mike Brey. He also got a text from his dad, Harvey, and as soon as the interview was complete, said with a smile: “I’m waiting on that call from Mom.”
Lots of assists Tuesday night at the Garden.