The New York Knicks are in the midst of a brutal stretch. They've now lost three games in a row including Thursday's bitterly disappointing 102-91 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Now at 22-24 and sitting at the 11th spot in the East, it's safe to say that the Knicks are having anything but a great season.

New York head coach Tom Thibodeau has now opened up about his team's current slump and how the media has held All-Star forward Julius Randle responsible for the same. According to the 64-year-old shot-caller, he completely understands why everyone is pinning the blame on Randle. This prompted coach Thibs to come to the defense of his embattled star:

“It’s easy to say that,” Thibodeau said of blaming Randle, via Stefan Bondy of the SunHerald. “but it’s really our entire team. When things aren’t going our way, Julius is gonna take a lot of blame. He gets a lot of the credit, but that goes with the turf. But it’s a team game, and we didn’t get into it with any one individual.”

As Thibodeau said, the blame game is all just part of being a team's cornerstone star. Randle is the best player on the Knicks and he took a lot of credit when this team made it to the playoffs last season. Naturally, the spotlight on him will be as bright when it's the other way around.

Randle himself has spoken out about all the criticism he's received this season. In his mind, the reigning Most Improved Player remains confident in his own talent:

“People who say that just know s— about me,” Randle said. “If you watch my career, if you watch me play every year, I’ve gotten better, so that just speaks to my mindset as a player. So if you think that, have fun with that take.”

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Randle's numbers have plummeted compared to his All-Star campaign last season. The 27-year-old is currently averaging 18.8 points per game on 41.1 percent shooting — a far cry from his 24.1-point average last term on a 45.6-percent clip. The good news for Randle and the Knicks is that there's still time for them to turn their season around. There's still so much basketball left to play this year and Randle is more than capable of carrying this team back to winning ways.