Julius Randle throws epic birthday bash in dominant Knicks win
After back-to-back inefficient performances, Julius Randle had himself a day against the Pistons. He dropped 36 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while shooting 14-of-24 from the field and 6-of-13 from the field in the New York Knicks’ 140-110 victory.
This was another fantastic game for Randle on the offensive side of the ball. While his defense wasn’t the best, this has been the case all season, so I’m not surprised. Regardless, it is much better to have some very good offense and no defense compared to Randle last season when he had no offense or defense.
Randle wasn’t perfect this game, as his shot selection was extremely questionable at times, but he still got the job done. While many other Knicks players performed quite well, some members of the team had questionable performances, but at the end of the day, a win is a win.
Julius Randle shines as the Knicks blowout the Pistons in 140-110 win
Outside of Julius Randle’s masterclass, most of the starting lineup performed very well. Jalen Brunson finished with 16 points, five assists, and one rebound and shot 6-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from behind the arc. It was another good performance from the Knicks’ new PG, who continues to impress this season.
Mitchell Robinson scored just six points but racked up 13 rebounds, a very solid performance for the Knicks’ big man. Quentin Grimes had arguably the best game of his young season, dropping 16 points, six rebounds, and two steals while shooting 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep.
Grimes has played rather well since returning from injury, and while his scoring hasn’t been the best, he has been doing everything else at a very solid level. Hopefully, he can keep this up as the season goes on.
As for RJ Barrett, he didn’t perform great, but considering how bad he has been in past games, we’ll take it. On Tuesday, he dropped 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists while shooting 4-of-11 from the field and 2-of-5 from deep.
Barrett had moments when he was forcing his offense, but overall it wasn’t as bad as in past games. He must get better at slowing the game down and not being such a black hole on offense so often. It will be interesting to see how he develops as the season goes on.
The Knicks’ bench was very solid this game, most notably Immanuel Quickley, who scored an efficient 15 points and four assists after starting the game off very rough. While there weren’t many other standout performances, the bench overall played very well.
Derrick Rose and Cam Reddish may not have performed particularly great, but when the team wins by 30, you can’t be mad.
This version of the Knicks is what we need to see night in and night out. Everyone was in sync and for seemingly the first time all season, there were no standout bad performances. Obviously, I’d like for Barrett to perform better, but again, you really can’t be mad with how well New York played.
While the Knicks could be faced with a reality check in Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, it is still nice to see the team play amazingly and get a win. Honestly, if the Knicks continue to play this well, it will be hard for almost any team to beat them.
