mistakes, it should be noted, that he also often makes. He’s been looking off teammates, often putting his head down when they make mistakes. The four-year contract that Randle signed in the offseason was a coup for the organization. Where Porzingis struggled with footwork and consistency, that was Randle’s greatest strength last year, along with his hot three-point shooting. Randle was better than Porzingis, who we had traded the year before he got to New York. Still, the Knicks and Randle had wins against quality teams, beating teams like Dallas on the road (a game in which Randle put up 44 points). The Hornets lost LaMelo Ball for two months with a wrist injury.
The Raptors weren’t allowed to play their home games in Canada yet. But the team definitely benefitted from a weaker East. Mitchell Robinson missed half the season and Thibs started Elfrid Payton, the first point guard with no thumbs ever to start in the NBA. If the Knicks benefitted from COVID, so did everyone who played that season. Teams can only play who (and what) is in front of them. To say that last year’s surprising Knicks team benefitted from it being a COVID-19 season last year is lazy thinking. Players are tired, confused about the rules the league has, and not built to play this many games in such a short amount of rest. LeBron’s post on Instagram where he compares COVID to the common cold was much maligned by writers and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar alike, but you can argue it was about situational fatigue as much as ignorance. The league has made millions while players are hurt, still playing back-to-backs, and mentally exhausted. They had three quarters of a season, a bubble season/playoff run, and then another season and they players are paying for it. The NBA is in its third season in two years. Julius Randle was a star that opening night and was set to lead the Knicks to a solid record. Randle always moved awkwardly and herky-jerky but his pull up jumper was devastating last year, as was his ability to find the open man when defenses would cater to his side too much.
The brutality and discomfort in Randle’s game not only got defenders off guard but fit the image that New Yorkers want for themselves: Abrasive and unrelenting. If the Lakers are showtime, then the Knicks are bruisers. Even at his best, watching Randle doesn’t compare to watching the likes of Nikola Jokic, but the Knicks have always prided themselves on a grittiness on the court fit for a Safdie Brothers movie. My first thought, in a drunken haze, was that we had found our guy. Maybe Randle had the blow-by quickness he showed when nobody was in the stands, the face-up threat, the athleticism, and the lean, unorthodox floor game that brought us the best offensive season the Knicks have had since the Obama Administration. Maybe we had gotten a Top 20 player out of the disappointment of not signing Kevin Durant. It told us that last season wasn’t a fluke, that in fact, Randle was bringing about a new dawn in Manhattan. It was a late-game bucket that brought the Garden faithful to their feet but it also functioned as confirmation. When Randle landed, his head jerked with a shout towards his wife and son.
In a game full of Fournier’s act tragicomedy act of turnovers and three pointers, RJ Barrett’s turnover dunks, and Jaylen Brown doing his greatest Michael Jordan impression, that play from Randle was the loudest I had heard the arena this season. After getting Boston’s Grant Williams to bite on a pump fake, Randle dashed to the paint and emphatically jammed with authority. The whole court was hovering towards the right wing where Randle was positioned. It was shades of prime Carmelo Anthony if he were a southpaw. On opening night against the Boston Celtics, Julius Randle drove down the paint in the fourth quarter. We all reacted with euphoria when it happened.