Brunson and Randle Struggling Early
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
The New York Knicks played their second home game of the season last Wednesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers who they beat in the first round of last season’s playoffs. The Knicks also beat the Cavaliers the previous night in Cleveland. But the Cavs answered the challenge in the second of the back-to-back to hand the Knicks a disappointing home loss 95-89 to drop their record to 2-3. The Knicks got shaky shooting from their two best players who have struggled shooting the ball early in the season.
Point guard Jalen Brunson missed 15 of 23 shots and finished with 24 points while Julius Randle who averaged 25 points last season, finished with six points and made just three of 15 shots. Through five games Brunson is shooting 37 percent from the field while Randle is shooting at a 27 percent clip and just 25 percent from three. A master rebounder, Randle had just six on the night. “It’s just a rhythm thing, we are not getting anything easy,” Randle said after the game. “I feel like we are working hard for everything right now. We just have to find a way to make things a little easier for each other out there.
“There seemed like there was a lot of physicality in there. I thought Jalen was getting hit but sometimes you get the calls, sometimes you don’t,” Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau said postgame about the way the game was officiated. “You just got to play through that. You can’t allow that to impact the way we play. Sometimes they are going to let the game be more physical. We just have to figure it out.”
Julius Randle has been a rock for the Knicks the last two playoff seasons in 2021 and 2023 and defenses know they have to fluster him the best way they can. “Sometimes Julius is not an easy guy to officiate because of his strength,” said Coach Thibodeau. “But there was some physicality to it so they’ll figure it out.”
Coach Thibs also mentioned that Randle didn’t have his normal conditioning routine this offseason because of surgery to his ankle which limited what he could do in the summer. Star Donovan Mitchell had a game high 30 points on six made three pointers.
The Knicks next opponent is the Bucks in Milwaukee on Friday night. They will play their first game in the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament against arguably the NBA’s best duo, Giannis and Dame.
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