LAS VEGAS — Knicks brass couldn’t be more delighted by Saturday’s happenings. The July 29 draft is starting to look as pretty as a pink flamingo.
Turns out the Knicks didn’t need starting point guard Immanuel Quickley, who sat out Saturday’s game vs. Cleveland with a sore groin.
And so debuted the starting rookie backcourt of point guard Miles McBride and shooting guard Quentin Grimes. They lit up Vegas with a combined 51 points as the Knicks held off the Cavaliers, 103-94, at Thomas & Mack Center to move to 3-2.
These aren’t lottery picks. A little more than two weeks ago, Grimes was tabbed 25th. McBride fell to 36.
According to a NBA source, Knicks officials are delighted their draft picks look significantly more polished than during the draft combine in late June.
Grimes scored 28 points with McBride adding 23. The duo combined to shoot 17-of-34 from the field — 11-of-22 from 3-point land. Fifty percent — 50 percent.
“I thought they did a great job — a lot of energy to start,’’ summer-league coach Dice Yoshimoto said. “One thing we talked about after [Friday’s loss to Detroit] was to have energy and intensity to the game. We made a point about being aggressive on both ends of the floor.’’
Grimes, the Houston product, has scored 53 points in the past two games after a slow start to summer league.
McBride, out of West Virginia, had a rough shooting game in the Friday loss (2-of-14) and bounced back with a vengeance. He sank 9 of 14 shots with five assists as he took control of the starting-point guard role from Quickley. McBride sank five of eight from 3-point land.
“I tell him to shoot when he’s open, don’t hesitant, let it fly,’’ Yoshimoto said. “As long as he continues to shoot the right ones, I’m OK with that.’’
No one knows how much Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau will play McBride-Grimes this season, and he has yet to comment on the Knicks’ four draft picks. But The Post reported before the draft Thibodeau pushed for McBride.
As the Cavaliers scrambled back to within three with 2 minutes left, Grimes nailed a clutch left-wing 3-pointer and McBride hit a tough runner off the glass, old school.
Meanwhile, Obi Toppin, the summer league’s fifth-leading scorer and 2020 lottery pick, bulled and skied his way to 21 points (8-of-20 from the field).
Even better, the highlight defensive play came when another Knicks 2021 draft pick, rookie center Jericho Sims, skied in the opening quarter to block emphatically a driving layup by Tre Scott, eliciting one of the loudest roars of the night. Sims, picked 58th, notched eight points and nine rebounds.
The only downer was the Cavaliers’ third pick in the draft, center Evan Mobley, sat out.
As for the McBride-Grimes duo, they may get one more chance at it as the Knicks will finish the summer league with a consolation game vs. Atlanta on Monday at 7 p.m.
That will be intriguing because the Knicks traded their 19th pick for Charlotte’s future first-rounder, and the Hawks went on to select highly touted but baggage-ridden Jalen Johnson with the 20th pick.
