It’s a new year and a new starting lineup for the Knicks — for now.
The Knicks likely will turn again to a pair of young players to start at point guard and at power forward on Sunday, when they play in Toronto at an empty Air Canada Centre, due to the Raptors’ new COVID-19 rules.
Coach Tom Thibodeau’s team also will have a new starting center, veteran Taj Gibson, after the Knicks announced Mitchell Robinson is their latest player to enter COVID protocols.
While forward Obi Toppin and guard Miles McBride didn’t click in their respective NBA starting debuts on New Year’s Eve in a 95-80 loss at Oklahoma City, it might be too soon to judge the new makeshift alignment.
The quintet (topped off by Robinson, Evan Fournier and RJ Barrett) came together in a hurry and without a practice. Toppin, filling in for COVID-stricken Julius Randle, said those five guys had never played together as a unit — even in practice.
At least Toppin had one day to prepare for the starting nod. McBride, the rookie out of West Virginia who was taken in the second round, had one hour. Thibodeau brought him into his office before the game and told him Kemba Walker’s arthritic left knee had acted up during warmups and the veteran had been shut down indefinitely.
“I wanted to step up and do the best I could,’’ McBride said. “I’m still trying to get in a rhythm. The whole team is — with guys going down. It just happened like that. I couldn’t do a lot of thinking or reacting. I had to go with the flow.’’
It was an offensive nightmare. Hours before the ball dropped in Times Square, the Knicks got few balls to drop in Oklahoma City.
Toppin scored just five points in 27:19 and hoisted one 3-pointer, which he missed. McBride had seven points, one assist and shot 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
“I got a few texts, ‘Congrats on your first start,’ but obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted it to,’’ McBride said.
The 80 points were the Knicks’ lowest total since 2018. They shot a season-worst 8-for-41 from 3-point land.
With all the social-media fervor about Toppin needing to cut into Randle’s minutes or even start over him, the Dayton dunker looked out of place with the first unit. The under-fire Randle is the Knicks’ key cog who wears down opponents’ defenses, and he was missed terribly.
Perhaps it had something to do with Toppin not having a creative point guard to set him up for his rim attacks. Walker and Derrick Rose (ankle surgery) were out, and Thibodeau decided to keep Immanuel Quickley on the productive second unit.
Toppin plays better when the game is high tempo. He has a connection with Quickley, the second-year guard. Thibodeau could swap Quickley’s and McBride’s roles Sunday with Walker set to miss his second straight game.
McBride is a defense-first point guard whose 3-point shot comes and goes. While he has quarterback skills, as he showed that wondrous night in Houston on Dec. 16, when he had 15 points, nine assists, four steals and played the entire second half in a 116-103 Knicks victory, he’s not the most colorful passer. If Thibodeau sticks with the unit he used Friday on Sunday in Toronto, the Knicks will attempt to increase the pace.
The hope is uber-athletic Toppin eventually will transform into a stretch-4 type, but his 3-point shot (21.2 percent) is not a work of art.
“I’m still going to shoot if I’m open,’’ Toppin said. “I’m never going to stop. It’s just confidence. I’m not saying I don’t have confidence in my shot. Every time I shoot it, I feel it’s going in. It’s matter of putting in the time and be in the gym a lot more.’’
Toppin, the No. 8 pick in 2020, accumulates his points at the rim — on fast-breaks and rim cuts in the half-court game.
“It’s read and react,’’ Toppin said. “If Thibs calls a play, whoever has the play, it’s their read. If I see someone’s head is turned, I’m cutting and it’s the guard’s job to find me on the court. Or find a corner man. We all play like that off the read.’’
When the Knicks’ four-game road trip started, McBride was still in COVID protocols. He got cleared Tuesday and flew to Minneapolis by himself, though he did not play in the game that night against the Timberwolves.
“I’m still definitely working my way back into it,’’ McBride said. “Nothing is hurting, but when you’re sitting down for 10 days and not doing anything, and now you rejoin the team … I’m trying to get into the best rhythm can.’’
McBride noted because of the Knicks’ COVID-19 outbreak, they haven’t held formal morning shootarounds or practices on this trip. McBride said he only got to a gym once.
McBride didn’t shoot well in Detroit on Wednesday and was held scoreless, but Thibodeau was gleeful about his pressure defense and team-best plus-39 in 24 minutes.
It was unfortunate McBride tested positive for COVID-19 when he did — a day after his spectacular showing in Houston. Before that outing, McBride’s minutes mostly came in the G-League.
“Obviously I was very upset,’’ McBride said. “I was going to try to continue to roll like that. It’s a setback. But I have to figure it out. It’s a long year.’’
And the new year might start with Toppin and McBride as starters for the foreseeable future.