On some nights, this is how it’s going to be for point guard Kemba Walker.
Walker didn’t play the game’s final 18 minutes with Derrick Rose one of the hottest Knicks on a dark Sunday at the Garden.
In his third game as a Knick, Walker logged 19 minutes, scored 10 points with three assists, no turnovers and shot 4 of 8. But he was a minus-14.
Rose was going well enough to keep Walker on the pine, though the Knicks got obliterated in the fourth quarter, 36-24.
“Like our team, he’s had some good moments,’’ Tom Thibodeau said of Walker’s first three games. “There’s been some moments not as good as he can play. But our team, we get in a situation like tonight, you’re searching. I was searching for guys who could give us a shot. I thought the group we ended up closing with gave us our best shot.’’
Thibodeau said the Knicks’ new two-way player, former Spurs prospect Luka Samanic likely won’t join the big club.
At the end of training camp, the Knicks signed the enigmatic 6-foot-10, 21-year-old Croatian, the 2019 first-round pick of the Spurs who was waived Oct. 11.
The Knicks jumping on Samanic was surprising because it seemed summer league players Aamir Sims of Clemson and MJ Walker of Florida State would be signed to the remaining two-way contracts that allow a player a maximum 50 games in the NBA.
Samanic is on the verge of reporting to G-League Westchester’s camp, according to Thibodeau.
Finally addressing the official signing, Thibodeau said, “I think it’s for the Westchester team. We’re excited to have him. We’ll get a look at him once they get going.’’
A European scout interviewed last week said Samanic has motor and attitude issues.
Center Taj Gibson, who missed the first two games on paternity leave, returned Sunday. He played 12 minuets, missing his only shot and grabbing four rebounds in the loss.