It was another masterful performance on Friday night from New York Knicks forward Julius Randle: 44 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and just three turnovers. It came on 16-for-29 shooting from the floor and 6-for-11 shooting from the arc in a 117-109 win over the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden.
That's five-straight for New York, now at 30-27 and firmly planted in the Eastern Conference playoff picture as the No. 6 seed—1.5 games ahead of the No. 7 seed Miami Heat and just a half game back of the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics.
What a turnaround this is for the most valuable team in the NBA, as veteran coach Tom Thibodeau has somehow mixed veteran talent with young new pieces to unlock what's looking like a bright, bright future.
But perhaps the biggest unlocking of all for the Knicks this year has been the rise of Randle, who garnered his first All-Star nod this 202-21. He was averaging 23.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists before Friday's furious frenzy against Luka Doncic and company.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pound former Kentucky star and No. 7 overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2014 NBA Draft is in the middle of a basketball renaissance, averaging career bests in points per game, rebounds, assists and free-throw shooting.
Randle, however, was New York's No. 1 option in 2019-20, with much different results:
NYK was 21-45 last year with Julius Randle as the No. 1 option. Knicks are now fighting for playoff spot w/Randle as No. 1 option. And they’re playing on ESPN at time of year when national networks normally dump their games. Hard to overstate significance of Randle’s improvement pic.twitter.com/c3rqa4AGub
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) April 17, 2021
So, what exactly is going on?
Strong arguments can be made about New York's overall roster improvement from 2019-20 to today, as year-two R.J. Barrett, Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin have all shown their moxie at different points this season.
But again, Randle has seen the biggest surge. In 28 Knicks wins prior to Friday, Randle averaged 24.8 points, 11.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists. In 27 losses, it's 21.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists. Not remarkably different. His shooting percentages aren't terribly different, either, as he's made 47.9 percent of his attempts in victories, and 44.1 percent of his attempts in defeats.
Further inspection shows, though, that Randle is shooting 44.7 percent from the arc in wins and 35.4 percent from the arc in losses.
And this is his key: the Knicks are 10-7 when Randle makes three or more 3-pointers in a game this year (with wins against playoff contenders like Dallas, Atlanta and Milwaukee), and they're 20-13 when he shoots 40 percent or better from the arc.
In 2019-20, Randle shot 33.7 percent from the arc in victories, and just 24.3 percent in losses. His 3-point shooting has improved and has been consistent no matter the situation, and all it's doing is lifting the Knicks back into playoff relevance.
Follow Us
Subscribe