Julius Randle Drops 33, Leads Knicks to 94-82 Win over Injury-Riddled Nets
Julius Randle dropped 33 points on 14-of-26 shooting as the New York Knicks upset the host Brooklyn Nets 94-82 on Thursday at Barclays Center.
The left-hander hit 5-of-9 three-pointers and also grabbed eight rebounds. The Knicks outscored the Nets by 25 points with Randle on the floor.
He and the rest of the Knicks shut down the Nets defensively, holding Brooklyn to 26.9 percent shooting.
Per ESPN's Malika Andrews, that is the lowest field-goal percentage by any team in a single game this year. It also marks just the second time this season that a team has shot under 30 percent. Brooklyn only had eight two-point field goals.
The Knicks posted their best defensive scoring effort since beating the Indiana Pacers 87-81 in March 2017.
Spencer Dinwiddie led the Nets with 25 points. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot was the only other Net to score in double digits with 10.
For the Knicks, Mitchell Robinson had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double off the bench. Marcus Morris Sr. added 22 points, and Elfrid Payton contributed 13.
The 8-24 Knicks broke a three-game losing streak. The Nets fell to 16-14.
Notable Performances
Knicks PF Julius Randle: 33 points, 8 rebounds
Knicks F Marcus Morris Sr.: 22 points, 8 rebounds
Knicks PG Elfrid Payton: 13 points, 7 rebounds
Nets PG Spencer Dinwiddie: 25 points, 8 rebounds
Randle, Payton Pace Knicks Offense; Defense Stifles Nets
The Knicks entered Thursday coming off arguably their worst loss of the year, a 121-115 home defeat to a 9-21 Washington Wizards team with the longest injury report list in the league.
A road date with the Nets looked considerably harder on paper.
However, the Knicks turned back the clock to the 1990s with tough, swarming defense in a low-scoring game that saw the Nets finish the game by setting historical marks for offensive futility, per ESPN's Malika Andrews:
That took the pressure off the Knicks offense to carry the day, and New York got by despite shooting just 40.2 percent itself.
Julius Randle and Elfrid Payton paced the Knicks offense, with the former providing the scoring load and the latter impressing once again as the team's starting point guard.
No one could stick with Randle all night. The left-hander went 14-of-26 en route to his 33 points, including 5-of-9 from three-point range.
Randle has been excellent since Mike Miller took over as the team's interim head coach, entering the game averaging 20.7 points on 46.2 percent shooting and 9.1 rebounds. He's now posted back-to-back 30-point efforts as well.
The same goes for Elfrid Payton, who had posted 9.2 assists per game in his last five, including a season high of 12 versus Washington.
Payton got it done again Thursday, posting his 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go along with his seven boards and four dimes. He also had one of the game's best plays thanks to his impressive ball-handling and footwork in traffic:
Both Randle and Payton were effective on defense as well, where the Nets struggled in the paint and beyond the arc.
Mitchell Robinson took care of business down low, with this block on Spencer Dinwiddie one example:
He did the same to Joe Harris:
The Nets only scored 14 points in the paint versus the Knicks' 36.
New York is now 4-6 under Miller. While the Knicks aren't headed to the playoffs barring a miraculous run, they're clearly playing better on both ends of late and have proved to be competitive against teams headed to the playoffs.
Yes, the Nets were short-handed with Kyrie Irving and Caris LeVert still out with injuries, but New York has at least offered some glimmer of hope over the last few weeks.
What's Next?
Both teams will play road games on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
The Nets will start a three-game Western Conference road trip against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
The Knicks will visit the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
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