By MARC BERMAN

MIAMI – Larry Hughes will make his first start tonight as a Knick coming off his 25-point reawakening Friday night. And he gets Dwyane Wade as his first gift here on sunny South Beach.

D’Antoni would like to stick with this alignment, with Hughes and Chris Duhon in the backcourt and David Lee, Al Harrington and Jared Jeffries up front. D’Antoni knows he’s tinkered with the starting lineup too often this season – partly because of the four trades.

“I hope so,” D’Antoni said. “We got to get it quickly and get our rotations down. Larry played well last night. That’s what we’re looking from our 2-guard.”

Hughes was 4 of 22 before he busted out vs. the Sixers in a loss. D’Antoni said Hughes has been playing solid defense, which is a chief reason the Knicks obtained him at the trading deadline. Hughes was an All-Defensive selection with Washington, leading the league in steals in 2005.

Hughes has said the past two nights he doesn’t know where the “negative energy” had come from, with the boos he was getting at the Garden. I think 4 of 22 is where it’s coming from.

Hughes said D’Antoni mulled starting him Friday but was concerned about the reception he’d receive from the fans during intros. So he started Quentin Friday and saved this move for the road.

“He was wary about how the fans would receive the initial starting lineup call,” Hughes said. “He didn’t want to put me in a bad situation doing it at home. I’m confident he made the right decision and put me in the best position.”