Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and bench spark Knicks' win over talented Clippers squad
Knicks forward Julius Randle controls the ball against the Clippers in the second half of an NBA game at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The focus as the crowd at Madison Square Garden settled into their seats Monday night was the debut of the Los Angeles Clippers latest incarnation, a lineup that with the addition of James Harden now boasted four likely Hall of Famers in the starting lineup.
And for all of the hype surrounding Harden’s latest trade, the Garden seemed a fitting venue, putting this group under the spotlight in New York City. It is the place that even the stars circle on their calendars, a chance to show off on the biggest stage in the NBA. But this was different as the Clippers arrived with a lineup that could break the budget of almost any fan trying to collect jerseys of all the stars on this team.
But on this night, it was the Knicks second unit — a group filled with players who might not be recognized on the streets outside the Garden — that took the game over. And with RJ Barrett returning from a knee injury and Julius Randle returning to form, the burst from the second unit was enough to let the Knicks steal the spotlight with a 111-97 win over the Clippers.
“Subconsciously, yeah. I think you just feed off of it naturally,” Donte DiVincenzo said of lifting the crowd. “You’re so focused on trying to get stops. All the star power they had over there; they can get it going quick. And you don’t want to let your guard down for any possession. We stayed on it, forced them to two or three misses in a row, a couple turnovers. I think that’s when our confidence started to building in the open court.”
Putting on a show may be secondary to winning the championship title that has eluded the franchise, but the Clippers have undoubtedly become a showcase for the NBA. Already, they had Paul George and Kawhi Leonard paired up for years and then added Russell Westbrook last season. Now, after a long — sometimes ugly — negotiation, they have added Harden to the place he wanted to be.
“Anytime you can play in the Garden, it’s great,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said before the game. “The mecca of basketball. It’s where I have my career high, in the Garden. Everyone wants to play well in the Garden. It’s a great start for us, a great place to play. Hopefully we can have a lot of energy coming out into this game. The fans are going to be great. Even though they’re big Knicks fans they are fans of good basketball, so hopefully we can give them that tonight.”
But the Knicks didn’t roll over for this group as the first step proved to be a shaky one for the Clippers. Harden didn’t even attempt a shot in nine minutes in the first quarter, before finishing the night with 17 points in 31 minutes. What seemed perfect on paper still needs to be worked out in reality. George was just 2-for-11 shooting for 10 points and none of the Clippers reached 20 points before Lue emptied the bench with just under five minutes remaining.
Randle had by far his best game of the season with 27 points and 10 rebounds, playing with the aggression he had not shown in the first six games. It wasn’t exactly lights out, hitting 9 of 21 shots overall, but his entire play seemed to rise to a level not seen this season.
“It was good,” Randle said. “We took a step forward today. Just got to keep building on it.”
“Just got some easy ones,” Thibodeau said of Randle. “Once that happened, he saw the ball go in, found a rhythm. I’m not worried about him scoring the ball. We know how gifted a scorer he is.”
Barrett had 26 points in his first game back after sitting out the last two with left knee patellar tendinopathy. Mitchell Robinson chipped in 13 points and 15 rebounds while Jalen Brunson struggled through a 2-for-12, 7-point effort.
“Honestly, I thought we played a good game all throughout,” Barrett said. “I think just toward the end we really picked up the defense a little bit more and got a lot o easy buckets. Donte had a crazy stretch for us, blew the game open.”
It was the second unit that put the game away. The Knicks trailed 76-73 after Harden hit a three-pointer late in the third quarter. But Immanuel Quickley tied the score, beating the buzzer with a three-pointer. And then in the fourth quarter the high-energy group of Quickley, Barrett, Josh Hart, DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein took over.
Hart buried a three and then Barrett found Hartenstein inside. Hart then swiped a pass and fired a quick feed ahead for a Barrett dunk to open the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run. The group stretched it to a 13-3 start to the period with a DiVincenzo steal and layup before Westbrook hit the Clippers first field goal of the final quarter after 2:55. The Knicks stretched the lead to as many as 17 in the fourth quarter and dimmed the lights on the debut of this Clippers lineup.
Notes & quotes: Barrett, who became the youngest Knicks player to top 5000 career points Monday (surpassing Patrick Ewing, who was 25), said that the knee problem surfaced from wear and tear and that he believes it’s something that won’t go away immediately. “I’m going to have to live with the pain. Got to be mentally tough, fight through it.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
