CLEVELAND — His three-game penance is over, and Frank Ntilikina said his mind is now “free’’ after he looked like a young Tony Parker on Sunday at the Garden — on French Heritage Night.
Indeed, Ntilikina looked like a superstar in the second half of the Knicks’ 119-107 loss to the Hornets, scoring all of his career-high 18 points in a dizzying span of 7:38, swishing 3-pointers and snaking to the hoop for lovely driving baskets.
It came in front of an adoring Garden crowd and fellow French point guard-extraordinaire Parker, who scored 16 points off the bench for Charlotte.