The New York Knicks tour of embarrassing losses continued against the Phoenix Suns. Cam Johnson posted career-highs in points and 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater from deep that stole a Suns victory.
Before Johnson beat the Knicks with that long triple, he did some other work that helped the Suns. He got physical with Julius Randle — nothing dirty, just a hard contest for positioning near the hoop — and Randle confronted him about it with a minor shove. He was ejected from the game, costing the Knicks their leading scorer on the night.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game that Randle has to know better than to react with so much aggression.
Thibodeau on Randle ejection: "It’s an emotional game, but you can’t cross over that line. You’ve got to know where to stop. And none of us are perfect, we’re going to make mistakes. But we’ve got to be disciplined."
— Steve Popper (@StevePopper) March 5, 2022
Randle's ejection-worthy dust-up with the player who went on to have a career night and hit the game-winner is the perfect encapsulation of the Knicks season. They just keep getting in their own way and making things harder, and it costs them mightily. Although Randle has said all the right things and responded to the criticism by playing better, his decline has been very costly to New York's success.
In 28 minutes, Randle had 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Although his contributions helped the Knicks take a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter, they squandered it all and let Johnson rain triples all over the court.
New York is 25-38, winning just once since the month of February. Their once-exciting season is shaping up for a very rotten ending.
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