The New York Knicks almost blew a 15-point lead against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, but thanks to some late-game heroics by Reggie Bullock and another strong performance by Julius Randle, they came away with a 122- win 112 got away.
Bullock’s three-pointer with two seconds left sent the game to overtime, but Randle was the star in the series because he was for the Knicks all season long. He finishes with 33 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and five steals, and in the process records his fourth consecutive game with at least 30 points.
This is the longest score in Randle’s career, and he also becomes the first Knicks player to achieve that feat since Carmelo Anthony back in 2014. It’s pretty well summed up how good Randle has been this season, and how much the Knicks have struggled in recent years.
After his big day against the Pelicans, Randle – who made his first All-Star Game earlier this season – now averaged 23.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, while 40.5% of 3-point country shot. Each one of these figures is a career highlight.
With Randle taking the lead, the Knicks have now won six games in a row, which is their longest winning streak since 2014. They are also now alone in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, and only half a game out of the fourth that would give them home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
At the same time, they are only 1.5 games ahead of the seventh and only four games at the ninth, so there is still work to be done to ensure they do not end up in the play-offs. But no matter what happens the rest of the way, it’s the most competitive the Knicks have been in nearly a decade, and they have to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2013.