Knicks must find a way to keep hot streak going without Julius Randle
Knicks forward Julius Randle reacts after injuring his shoulder in the fourth quarter of an NBA game against the Heat at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Knicks fans were just minutes from being on top of the world.
Their team was closing in on its sixth straight win. Better yet, that win was against the Miami Heat, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season.
Then it all came crashing painfully down as Julius Randle fell awkwardly to the floor after being fouled by the Heat’s Jaimie Jaquez Jr. It quickly became apparent that Randle, one of the toughest players on the Knicks, was in terrible pain. Wincing and clutching his right shoulder, Randle had to be escorted out of the arena by the training staff.
The Knicks won the game, 125-109, but the mood in the locker room was decidedly sober. The Knicks have not officially said what the nature of Randle’s injury is, but Newsday confirmed that he has a dislocated right shoulder.
While the severity of the injury hasn’t been revealed, it’s not going out on a limb to say that Randle will miss significant time. The big question now for the Knicks, who have been the hottest team in the league during the month of January, is whether they can keep this thing going until Randle gets back.
The Knicks are 12-2 since the trade for OG Anunoby, who has proved to be the perfect fit with scorers Randle and Jalen Brunson. During that span, they’ve had the best defense in the league and have looked like a team that could go deep in the playoffs.
“They found an identity that’s helping them win games,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked before the game how the Knicks have changed since the trade. “Defensively, they’ve been physical. They’ve been disruptive. Their offensive pieces seem to fit and bring out the best in this group.”
It’s hard to overstate just how stunning a stretch this has been for the Knicks. They not only have beaten title contenders Philadelphia, Minnesota and Denver but absolutely destroyed two of them.
In the third game with Anunoby in a Knicks uniform, they crushed the 76ers, 128-92, in Philadelphia. On Thursday, they steamrolled the Nuggets despite the fact that they were without their top two centers and facing MVP candidate Nikola Jokic.
The Knicks were in eighth place in the Eastern Conference when they sent Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett to Toronto for Anunoby. They now are in fourth place, one game behind the 76ers.
This is a team that offensively has been heavily dependent on Randle and Jalen Brunson, who nightly seem to take turns leading the Knicks to victory. After getting off to a slow start because of offseason ankle surgery, Randle has been a consistent force. In 46 games, he is averaging 24.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists and is shooting 47.2% from the field and 31.1% from three-point range.
“He’s a guy that plays through things, and that’s what you love about him. He’s a warrior,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Any time someone walks back [to the locker room], you know it’s something. You’re concerned any time anyone gets hurt and you hope for the best. That’s where we are right now, but I also feel if he is out, then the next guy will go in there and get it done.”
To survive a significant Randle absence, the Knicks will have to find some points somewhere, and the most logical person to provide them is Anunoby. He showed he was capable against Denver, dominating on both ends of the floor with 26 points and six steals. That was his career-high scoring game as a Knick.
Anunoby was more of an offensive threat in Toronto, but that’s because the Knicks haven’t needed him to be one. They were happy he could score without needing the ball as much as Barrett did. Now they are going to have to ask him to adjust his game again.
In his second year in the league, Brunson dislocated a shoulder and missed the last 10 games of the season. He had an idea of what Randle was going through when he was doubled over in pain on the court Saturday.
“You don’t want to see that from anybody, especially the way he’s been playing,” Brunson said. “He means a lot to us.”
Now Knicks fans will get a chance to see just how much.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
