Allonzo Trier, Emmanuel Mudiay carry Knicks to win over Pelicans

Last week, Knicks coach David Fizdale called it a learning opportunity when he put all three of his rookies in the game in New Orleans and saw the game slip away.

This time, as Friday night’s game against the Pelicans at Madison Square Garden went down to the wire, lottery pick Kevin Knox was on the bench. Second-round pick Mitchell Robinson had fouled out in nine minutes of action. But undrafted rookie Allonzo Trier was on the floor, this time not for a lesson but to try to carry the Knicks across the finish line.

Trier combined with Emmanuel Mudiay to provide the scoring punch needed on this night, as the pair totaled 52 points to lead the Knicks to a 114-109 win over the Pelicans.

Mudiay scored 27 points and Trier chipped in 25 off the bench, a much-needed contribution as Tim Hardaway Jr. endured a 2-for-15 shooting night, misfiring on his first 11 shots.

“Our first two in a row. We’re riding with this one,” Fizdale said of his team’s winning streak. “We’re gonna roll with this one for a little bit. But that says a lot about our team that we can win a game against a team like that with Tim struggling. I think the credit was — I thought our defense really came to play for the most part. They shot 39 percent from the field, and to get them to that, obviously you gotta get lucky with them missing. But I thought our guys competed in a way that helped that number.”

Trailing 103-96 with 3:58 remaining, the Knicks (6-14) went on a 12-0 run and went up 108-103 on a basket by Mudiay with 34.1 seconds left.

After Knox’s floater with 9:28 to play, Mudiay and Trier delivered the next 19 points for the Knicks, including a free throw by Trier for a four-point lead with 10.2 seconds remaining.

After Anthony Davis scored with 8.2 seconds left to cut the gap to 111-109, the Knicks called timeout and Mudiay was fouled away from the ball. The Knicks were awarded one free throw, which he converted, and the ball, leading to Hardaway’s two free throws with 7.4 seconds left.

“I think we’ve just been growing, starting to understand each other better, starting to understand the things that we need to do in order to close out games,” said Trier, who had career-bests in points and rebounds (eight) and added four assists. “I think it’s the little things, the attention to detail things that we were better at tonight that made the difference in us winning.”

With the score tied at 81 late in the third quarter, Davis limped off the court and went straight to the locker room.

At the time, he seemed bound for the type of game he had against the Knicks last week in New Orleans, when his 43-point, 17-rebound performance led the Pelicans to a comeback victory.   He had 33 points and 12 rebounds this time but scored only two points after returning with 3:18 remaining.

The Knicks still appear headed toward a lottery pick, but Fizdale said before the game that he is pleased with where the team is heading.

“Learning for all of us. Trying to figure each other out,” he said. “Trying to figure out the NBA for a lot of these guys. Learning our culture, learning our system, learning a new staff. That’s really what this whole first 20, 25 games was about for us.

“It’s just trying to settle a foundation for the big picture and figuring out who we have and what we have moving forward. I’ve been happy with the way the guys have stuck with it and really have kept a workman’s type of approach to this whole thing through the ups and the downs. Hopefully we can continue to grow.”