NEW YORK — Late in the first half Wednesday night, Julius Randle took Maxi Kleber to the rim and scored, drawing a foul on the play and perhaps more important than the points, he wandered to the baseline, high-fiving a courtside fan. About a minute later a lone MVP chant was voiced from the upper decks.
It’s a start.
After a weird week of acrimonious tension between Randle and the home fans at Madison Square Garden a detente was reached as the fans halted the booing and taunts directed at the team’s leader and Randle seemed to lift his mood from the dark place it had been.
Randle insisted, like his coach, that all he worried about was winning, and on this night the Knicks got the win, beating Dallas, 108-85. And Randle got back in the Garden’s good graces with his play, a balanced 17-point, 12-rebound, eight-assist performance.
The chants of MVP that he had been getting last season and earlier this year were audible again, but for RJ Barrett, who led the Knicks with 32 points. And this time when Randle was running the clock down with just over a minute left and an "RJ Barrett chant broke out, Randle found Barrett in the corner for a three-pointer that set off another celebration and finally emptied the bench. Mitchell Robinson added a season-high 19 points.
The Mavs were without Kristaps Porzingis, who remained in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, as well as coach Jason Kidd, who was sidelined in protocols, too.
If Randle settled the feud that had been simmering since he responded to criticism and catcalls with a thumbs-down gesture and an explanation that his message for the fans was to, "shut the (expletive) up with his play and demeanor on the court that was good because he showed little indication of playing nice off it.
Wednesday he spoke to the media after practice, one day after again hearing the insults of the crowd while scoring just two points, and he answered every inquiry about the situation with a downcast, "I already addressed that." When asked directly about the Instagram post apology — without actually saying sorry — he said it was that he, "Just felt like I needed to address certain stuff that was said, whatever it was."
Taj Gibson, the elder statesman of the team and a native New Yorker said Tuesday, "I think on a normal day it would affect anybody. Going to a popular stadium, Madison Square Garden, one of the best places to play, one of the number one fan bases in the world, you're gonna have pressure. That's why he chose to come here when a lot of people didn't really want to take it. But he's here, you know I'm saying? But it comes with the game. You can ask Patrick Ewing, you know what I'm saying? A lot of guys dealt with it. It's part of New York. You play good, they're gonna love you. You play bad, you're gonna hear about it. But it's just a chip on your shoulder, and you just gotta move on. Not many people can play here. You just gotta be tough about it."
Randle missed his first two shots after missing his last six and connecting on just one Monday. But even as he didn’t score at the start he had a pair of quick assists, drawing defenders and kicking to teammates for open shots. He then got on the board with a short baseline jumper and followed it quickly with a turnaround jumper in the lane and a three-point field goal, a quick seven-point flurry that seemed to energize him, his team and the Garden.
The tough layup through contact that prompted the high-five with a fan didn’t actually end in a three-point play as he missed the free throw after a timeout. But the celebration, at least at that point, might have been more important than the free throw.
The Knicks took a 56-45 lead into the intermission with Randle contributing 11 points and three assists without a turnover and was a team-best plus-15 in his time on the court.
But after hitting just 3 of 17 from beyond the arc in the first half the Mavericks started the second half with a three from Kleber. If it seemed to portend some change for Dallas it just never came. By the end of the third quarter the Knicks upped the lead to 18 points and stretched it to 22 early in the fourth quarter. Dallas closed it to 14 and twice had open threes to try to cut the deficit, but missed both and the Knicks rallied again and pushed the lead back over 20.
