A game after New York Knicks forward Julius Randle had his worst game of the season, the All-Star had a big bounce-back performance Sunday in the Knicks’ 112-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Randle had 33 points (including 25 in the first half) on 11-24 shooting, eight rebounds, and five assists in the victory. The performance helped snap the Knicks’ three-game losing streak as well as snap a brief skid for Randle himself.
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Julius Randle played with much more aggression Sunday:
After shooting an abysmal 5-24 from the field on Saturday against the Clippers, Randle looked to attack the basket more against the Lakers, and he was really getting to the basket fairly easily and finished with authority.
When Randle goes strong to the basket more and does not settle for tough threes, he is extremely tough to stop, especially since he has the capability to, in fact, get red-hot from three-point range.
While he did take 12 threes and only knocked down three of them in Sunday’s win, it is still a great sign that he was willing to adjust his game and play more aggressively to turn in a much more efficient performance.
“Obviously, after shooting the ball the way I did [Saturday], I wanted to be a little bit more in attack mode, be aggressive going to the basket,” Randle said after the victory.
Randle was not the only Knick to bounce back on Sunday, as RJ Barrett also put in a 30-point performance (including 20 in the second half) and made 12 of 27 shot attempts.
With no Jalen Brunson in the lineup, it was imperative for Randle and Barrett to turn things around and get the Knicks through this bit of adversity as they hunt for a playoff spot, and they delivered big time on Sunday.
The Knicks will look to continue their winning ways when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
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