CLEVELAND — The Knicks haven’t won since Trey Burke started missing games. Now it looks like Burke’s sprained knee ultimately will keep him out more than two weeks.
Burke, who sprained his knee against Milwaukee Dec. 1, is with the club but won’t be cleared for contract drills until later this week. He hopes, but isn’t sure it will happen, to make his return in the finale of the three-game trip Sunday at Indiana. Burke said he is free of pain and swelling. The Knicks have lost five straight in his absence.
“I’m hoping but I don’t really have a timetable,’’ Burke said at the morning shootaround before Wednesday’s 113-106 loss to the Cavaliers. “They’re not giving me any type of, ‘This is the game.’ They’re kind of just like, ‘We’re gonna base it off of how you feel after you do have some contact.’ I know on this trip I’m gonna do some one-on-one contact so that’s gonna be the indicator. That’s gonna be kind of the measuring stick of when I come back. But I’m hoping. Definitely. I’m just not saying on the record I’m gonna be back the last game. I’m just hoping that I can sneak in one of these games on this road trip. That’d be great.”
When Burke went down, Allonzo Trier became the backup point guard as Frank Ntilikina sat for three games. Now Trier has a strained hamstring and Ntilikina is back in good graces, playing well the past three games, including 16 points in Wednesday’s loss.
Still, Knicks coach David Fizdale won’t elevate Ntilikina to the starting point guard to supplant a slightly slumping Emmanuel Mudiay.
“I don’t want to mess with [Ntilikina],’’ Fizdale said before the game. “He’s just got back into the groove and he played two games back-to-back well. When a guy’s actually playing well in that role do I want to shift him? So that’s something I’ll always be evaluating, trying to find a balance.’’
Ntilikina, who scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half for his third straight robust game, said his family is safe after the Tuesday terrorist attack at a marketplace in his hometown of Strasbourg, France. Three people were killed and several others were injured in the attack. Ntilikina lives 10 minutes from the market and said he has been there countless times.
Cavs coach Larry Drew, who took over on an interim basis when Tyronn Lue was fired last month, could be a candidate to join Fizdale’s staff next season, if he isn’t back in Cleveland. Drew and Fizdale were together on the Atlanta staff for a few years in the mid-2000s.
“We’re very good friends,’’ Drew said. “I’m very proud where he is now.’’ Said Fizdale: “I owe him a lot.”
Courtney Lee didn’t shoot well in his rehab start in Lakeland, Fla. with the G-League Westchester Knicks, but he logged 31 crucial minutes. Lee scored 17 points but was 7-of-21 — 1-of-9 on 3-pointers. Lee, who has played three games with the big club, asked to go down to get in better game shape, saying he’s in preseason form after missing preseason and the first 24 games with a mysterious neck injury. He’ll join the Knicks in Charlotte.
Rookie center Mitchell Robinson said Fizdale’s creative ploy to get him to foul less is working. Robinson has to do five push-ups if he fouls in practice with his hands down. If Robinson commits an infraction with his hands up contesting, Fizdale drops to the ground.
“Yeah, it actually has [helped],’’ Robinson said. “Nobody feels like doing push-ups all the time. It helps a lot. I’ve done it like six times maybe. [It’s] just bad habits. It’s coming along pretty good.’’
Robinson has fouled out of three games. Asked if he enjoys watching Fizdale do push-ups when he uses proper technique, Robinson said, “Coach needs to get in shape.’’
Said Fizdale: “I’m going to look really buff by New Year’s.”