The New York Knicks entered their Sunday night battle against the Sacramento Kings winners of three straight games, with Julius Randle at the heart of everything they were doing offensively. Randle had scored 34 and 33 points, respectively, in two straight blowout wins against the Atlanta Hawks and the Charlotte Hornets, playing at a level reminiscent of his All-Star campaign two seasons ago.
And the 28-year old southpaw carried over his strong play on Sunday, scoring 27 points through three quarters to torch the Kings. However, Randle lost his cool with over three and a half minutes left in the third quarter, picking up two technical fouls in quick succession after he kept on yapping at the officials.
Randle's night is over?! š² pic.twitter.com/K7D3JscsRT
ā KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) December 12, 2022
Oddly enough, the Knicks on the court just watched Julius Randle put his night in jeopardy, with only Jalen Brunson seeming to care about holding the 2021 All-Star back. While the Knicks still took home a convincing 112-99 win over the shorthanded Kings, $120 million man RJ Barrett and head coach Tom Thibodeau know that New York can take plenty of lessons from the way they handled Randle's outburst.
āOnce someone gets one, you gotta hold him back after that,ā Barrett said, per Fred Katz.
Meanwhile, Thibodeau echoed his starting small forward's sentiments.
āYou gotta grab himā¦That's just a general thing for anyone,ā Thibodeau added.
Perhaps in another game, Julius Randle's ejection could have proven costly. The Knicks will be thanking their lucky stars that the Kings just couldn't seem to buy a bucket all night long, unable to turn around a double-digit first-half deficit. With the Eastern Conference race heating up and the Knicks still remaining in the thick of things with a 14-13 record, they cannot afford any more slip-ups like these.
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