NEW ORLEANS — Through the first 15 games of the season Mario Hezonja held the odd distinction of being the only player on the Knicks who had played in every game and hadn’t been shuffled into one of the incarnations of starting lineups devised by David Fizdale.
But Friday night that changed, not because he got a start, but because he never got the call from the bench, sitting and patiently waiting his turn. The move to the end of the bench came at an odd time for Hezonja as he prepares for Sunday night’s return to Orlando, the place where he spent the first three seasons of his career after being selected with the fifth overall pick by the Magic.