A career and game high 57-points by Julius Randle, wasn’t enough to help the New York Knicks hold off the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night as they lost 140-134.
It was a disappointing loss after the tremendous performance by Randle and supporting teammates and their comeback after being down most of the first half. Scoring helped New York tie the game in the third quarter and push ahead briefly, but they lacked the defense to sustain the advantage. “Just frustrating, but I’ll give them (Timberwolves)credit,” said Jalen Brunson. “They didn’t miss, but we didn’t make them miss. Offense wasn’t the problem today.”
The Knicks won their last meeting with Timberwolves 120-107 on Nov. 7. However, Minnesota was ready Monday night and New York was slow defensively. The Knicks had nine turnovers which gave the Timberwolves 13 points in the first half. Minnesota also out rebounded New York 15-14 in the first half.
The Knicks maintained their shooting effort. Randle had a driving, vicious dunk at the end of the first quarter that thrilled fans and drew a foul as he converted the free throw. Both teams played aggressively taking the lead back and forth. Yet the Timberwolves took a 20-18 lead after a 3-pointer by Taurean Prince with about seven minutes remaining in the first quarter. Minnesota kept the lead until the third quarter. Prince made all eight of his attempted 3-pointers in the game. New York trailed 42-32 at the end of the first quarter. “Good offensive team…hard to shut them off once they get going like that,” said Knicks Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. “They are a big first quarter team. We talked about that going into the game and they got everything.”
New York pushed in the last minute of the second quarter, but trailed 79-70 at halftime. The Knicks kept the energy going. Randle tied the score at 101 with a 3-pointer with about three minutes remaining in the third quarter. The score fluctuated back and forth with each team gaining the lead until the end of the game. The Knicks trailed by five points with about 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Randle earned a technical foul in the final seconds after throwing the ball when a foul was called on him, which made the comeback more challenging.
Randle became third on the list of players to score the most points in a game in Knicks franchise history as he tied the record with Richie Guerin (57), just behind Carmelo Anthony (62 points) and Bernard King (60 points). “Those are legends in this game and pioneers specifically for this organization who laid the groundwork and led the way for players like myself,” Randle said.
Brunson finished with 23 points and a team leading 10 assist. For Minnesota, Prince finished with 35 points with teammate Mike Conley adding 24 points and a game high 11 assist. The Timberwolves had 7 players score in double figures.
The Knicks visit the state of Florida when they face Miami Wednesday night and the Magic Friday night.
On a very sad note, it was announced Tuesday that New York Knicks and Hall of Fame center Willis Reed passed away at the age of 80. The cause of death was not released as of this issue.
Sports Editor Andrew Rosario contributed to this article.
