The New York Knicks fell to the Philadelphia 76ers Friday 119-108 after leading for most of the game, but Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson put on a show despite the tough loss.
The star pair combined to score 60 points (30 points each) on 23-39 shooting and hit seven three-pointers Friday, putting on an absolute clinic against one of the league’s best teams.
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Knicks’ Jalen Brunson got going right away:
Brunson scored a season-high 20 points on a scorching 8-10 shooting from the floor in just the first quarter, proving to everybody that he may have been snubbed from his first-ever All-Star appearance this season.
Brunson was creating for himself exceptionally well, keeping good control of his dribble while finding gaps beneath the Sixers’ defense to attack the basket and knock down tough layups and floaters inside.
After a quiet second quarter in which Brunson did not score, he went right back to work in the third quarter, as he scored eight points on 3-5 shooting in that period.
Brunson was smooth in the isolation game in the third quarter, even taking James Harden one-on-one and knocking down a tough contested mid-range jumper over him.
Knicks’ Julius Randle proved once again why he is an All-Star
Julius Randle has been known to have incredible first quarters this season, and although he did score a solid seven points in the opening period Friday, the story of his night was his monster third quarter.
Randle tore things up to open the second half, scoring 15 of his 30 points and shooting 4-7 from downtown to help extend the Knicks’ lead to 12 with 6:25 left in the third.
Randle’s confident stroke from outside was on full display and brought a huge jolt of offense for the Knicks that seemed to put them in the driver’s seat for another big win.
Unfortunately for the Knicks, their Goliath performances were not enough to secure a win. However, it is definitely a welcome sign to see Brunson and Randle continue to develop chemistry with each other, and the Knicks almost certainly will hope that they will continue to play well together and win more games.
Randle and Brunson will look to lead the Knicks to a bounce-back victory when they take on the Utah Jazz back home at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
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