Julius Randle’s technical foul outburst snatches momentum from Knicks
Following back-to-back losses to the Hornets and Kings, the Knicks lost their third game in a row on Saturday, this time falling to the Los Angeles Clippers. While no one besides Immanuel Quickley had a genuinely good game, one player stood out in the worst ways possible, that being Julius Randle.
This was Randle’s third disastrous game in a row and it has Knicks fans concerned over their odds of making a potential playoff run. If Randle can’t even be an okay player without Jalen Brunson next to him, what on earth is he going to do in the postseason?
The Knicks have needed Randle to step up recently and instead, he’s been more of a negative than anything else. He must perform better soon or things could get incredibly ugly for the Knicks as we inch closer to the end of the regular season.
Julius Randle’s utterly embarrassing play leads to Knicks’ third straight loss
Not only did Julius Randle play poorly, but the technical foul he received in the third quarter was embarrassing to see. Not only were the Knicks up at the time, but the foul was called with .1 seconds on the clock.
Julius Randle on the sideline while officials review for a flagrant foul on him. Game’s been very physical with few fouls pic.twitter.com/aJN3Ufpw1R
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 11, 2023
As a grown man, how can you not control your emotions enough not to throw an elbow at an opposing player for literally .1 seconds? This not only entirely shifted the momentum of the game in the Clippers’ favor but also allowed them to go up by two entering the fourth quarter.
These emotional outbursts are just unacceptable out of Randle. While he has gotten better at handling these sorts of things, it’s infuriating to see him give away free points over something so stupid.
Randle scored 19 points, eight rebounds, and three assists while shooting an atrocious 5-of-24 from the field and 3-of-10 from beyond the arc. Randle quite literally had as many fouls as buckets made and for the standard he is held to, there are simply no excuses for this.
This isn’t the only recent game in which Randle has played horribly, in fact, Randle is shooting 18-of-63 from the field and 7-of-31 from behind the arc during New York’s losing streak.
It does not matter that Jalen Brunson has been out. If Julius Randle wants to live up to his All-Star title, he must be able to be at least a decent player with no Brunson. Hopefully, he manages to turn things around soon, but this kind of play out of Randle is about as discouraging as it can get considering the playoffs start soon.
