Julius Randle’s consistency paid off for Knicks this week

Player of the Week: Julius Randle

Simply put, the Randle from last season was out in full form this week. In the devastating loss to Phoenix, Randle put up 25 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. He shot 9-of-18 from the field, an efficient 50 percent.

The forward also drained all six of his free throws, which is a necessary improvement in his game.

However, there was more to be desired in terms of his ball security. In a game that ended in a one-point loss, his four turnovers could be said to have had an impact on the outcome of this one (along with his ejection). Other than ball security, it’s clear that he was the most productive player the Knicks had versus the Suns.

Sunday’s matchup against Los Angeles didn’t go well for Randle. To be fair, this is the game that almost cost him Player of the Week. Barrett and Quickley dominated and propelled New York to victory against the Clippers, despite Randle’s lack of production.

In this game, Randle had 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting, including three turnovers. Luckily for him, his performance in the two remaining games made that outing easy to forget.

Against Sacramento on Monday, Randle couldn’t be stopped. He had 46 points, a new career-high, along with 10 rebounds.

What makes his performance in this game even more impressive? He made 18 of his 31 field goal attempts, bringing his total field goal percentage to 58% for the game.

He also made 50% of his three-point attempts, shooting 8-of-16 (another career-high). When Randle is scoring at such a high clip with that type of efficiency, the Knicks are tough to beat.

Randle ended his week off quite nicely against the Mavericks on Wednesday. The 27-year-old finished the game with 26 points, shooting 8-of-19 from the field. That’s a solid 42%, which he matched from three-point range by shooting 3-of-7. In addition, Randle shot 7-of-10 from the free-throw line and added eight rebounds and five assists to his solid overall performance.

Although there were some bumps in the road for New York’s star this week, he performed quite well otherwise. The way he scored in Sacramento made it hard to spotlight anyone but him.

When you factor in the way the Kings were dominating the Knicks before Randle got hot, it’s clear that he was the reason why the team won that game. That propelled them to go to Dallas and establish a three-game winning streak. Therefore, Randle deserves the credit.

Here at Daily Knicks, we’ll give it to him. He’s this week’s Daily Knicks Player of the Week.