Julius Randle upset with late traveling call as Knicks fall to Nets

Julius Randle has carried the Knicks so many times this season and even so many times on this night, so it was no surprise that after a furious comeback from an 18-point deficit, they would put the ball in his hands for a potential game-tying shot.

Kyrie Irving got a hand on the ball as Randle rose up for a three-point attempt in the final seconds, but Randle regrouped in the air, let it loose and grabbed it, putting it on the floor again. But as he readied to shoot again, referee Scott Foster whistled a traveling violation, putting an end to the Knicks’ chances in a 117-112 loss to the Nets on Monday night at Barclays Center.

It may have ended their chances, but it didn’t end Randle’s ire. He argued his case, and as the teams said their hellos and goodbyes and headed to the locker room, Randle continued to plead, even following Foster back toward the scorer’s table before teammates steered him away and into the locker room.

Foster clarified the call to a pool reporter, noting that Irving did get a hand on the ball but adding that it was not dislodged and that Randle came down with it and released it and could not be the first to touch it again. He added that he and the other officials saw Randle pursuing him but did not hear what he said.

"It’s an emotional game," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I thought he calmed down right away. It was a hard-fought game by both teams. Sometimes it goes your way, the whistle, sometimes it doesn’t. I thought Julius played a terrific game. He played the five, he was switching. He was doing a lot of good things for us. It didn’t go our way in the end."

Randle had calmed down when he came to the Zoom interview 40 minutes after the final buzzer, but he had little to say about the call or the incident.

"I just think that it’s best that I move past it and not comment on what I think or what the official thought," Randle said. "It doesn’t really matter now.

"I was just frustrated. We fought so hard to come back and try to win the game. I was just frustrated, and that was pretty much it. We’ve got another opportunity to go at it tomorrow, so just focus on tomorrow."

In the final minute, Immanuel Quickley misfired on a floater. Randle rebounded it in traffic and fired it to the corner, but Alec Burks misfired on a three-pointer. When James Harden hit two free throws, the Knicks were down seven with 28.6 seconds left.

RJ Barrett drove in for a dunk and the Knicks twice stymied the Nets’ inbounds effort, eventually forcing a jump ball. Randle broke away for a dunk to close the gap to three.

Barrett and Burks then converged on Joe Harris in the backcourt, tying him up. Burks came away with the ball but Barrett was whistled for a foul, and the Knicks challenged the call.

The Knicks won the challenge, resulting in a jump ball at center court. Randle won the tap and Burks tracked it down in the backcourt, immediately calling time with 5.7 seconds remaining. That set the stage for the controversial traveling call on Randle.

"Yeah, look, that’s what they said they saw," Thibodeau said. "I didn’t see it that way. Just as the other play in the corner, I didn’t see it that way either. That’s just the way it is."

Randle had 33 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Barrett added 23 points, Quickley 21 and Reggie Bullock 19.

Irving scored 34 points, Harden added 21 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists and Jeff Green had 20 points.

"We got in a big hole in the first half," Thibodeau said. "Second quarter, end of the first, part of the second. I thought we fought hard in the second half, I thought we did a lot of good things. I thought we created wide-open shots, shared the ball, fought.

"We had a number of guys step up and play well. I thought Frank [Ntilikina] gave us really good minutes defensively. And Taj [Gibson] gave us really good minutes defensively. We need everyone right now. Our margin of error is small. We have to play with great intensity for 48 minutes. If we do that, we’ll have a chance to win.

"They’re an excellent team. If you let your guard down for two or three minutes, they put a lot of points on the board in a hurry. So we’ve got to continue to work on our defense."