Kristaps Porzingis will be thrown right into the fire

If there was any doubt, Kristaps Porzingis is expected to be the Knicks starting power forward on opening night in Milwaukee.

Knicks coach Derek Fisher said he expects the 7-3 Latvian to start in the preseason finale in Boston on Thursday along with Jose Calderon, Arron Afflalo, Carmelo Anthony and Robin Lopez. Fisher said he intends, as long as they are healthy, to use that lineup in Milwaukee on Wednesday when the Knicks open their season as longshots to make the playoffs.

“Everybody is healthy and practiced last couple of days,’’ Fisher said. “Overall health should allow us to play in a way that would be consistent with how we start the season in terms of rotations. Minutes I’m not sure about. We should play in a way with how we want to play Wednesday night.’’

Fisher said Porzingis could also finish games if things go right.

Asked what he likes about the five-man unit featuring their rookie project, Fisher said, “The size, the strength, length up front, they can score. They’re a veteran group other than Kris. That group is going to be more about execution, working together. I think the defense has to respect each of those guys for who the are and what they can do on the floor. It’s potentially a group of guys who can be comfortable at the end of games as well. It’s important to find five guys comfortable with end-game situations also.’’

Porzingis struggled in his last outing, looking rusty after sitting out two straight games with a quad strain. He was 3 of 11 and had his dunk rejected at the rim by Charlotte’s Cody Zeller. Al Jefferson also scored a couple of hoops against Porzingis in the deep post in the second quarter.

The durability of their new poster boy is a huge issue and Pozingis realizes the 82-game grind is new to him. He played once or twice a week in Spain.

“We never played back-to-backs,’’ Porzingis said. “I haven’t heard anybody who say it was easy, 82 games,’’ Porzingis said. “(I was told) you better take care of your body because it’s long season.’’

Porzingis has spoken about Slovenian Sasha Vujacic as his mentor. The Euro duo spent the final 20 minutes of practice doing drills and having a free-throw shooting contest. One of the drills was throwing a ball behind the back off a wall and catching it in continuous motion as Porzingis showed his dexterity.

Porzingis said it is to develop “hand and eye coordination, get the ball from one hand to another. It’s pretty good especially for a big guy like me. That’s one of Sasha’s drills.’’

Fisher cracked, “I don’t know about the behind-the-back stuff. I don’t know about 7-3 guys behind the back passes off the wall. Kris might pull it out and it might work.’’

The Knicks coach thinks the bond can work because Vujacic knows the differences between playing in Europe and the NBA, plus has experience in the triangle offense as a Laker.

“I think there’s a lot of things he can offer Kris,’’ Fisher said.

Porzingis will enter the regular season without having played an NBA team at the Garden. He missed two Garden preseason games and his lone MSG appearance was against Brazilian power Bauru.

“It’s the last game to prepare for myself for the season,’’ Porzingis said of the preseason finale. “It’s important to play as hard as I can and get my conditioning better.’’

I simply disagree with Calderon as the starter; beyond that, the other dudes are ok IMO