DALLAS – Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle knew what to expect for his club with Julius Randle in his hometown Big D.
“He’s an All-Star who likes to come back to play here,” said Carlisle before the game.
And how. Friday was Randle’s best game yet – and one of the Knicks’ most impressive victories this season.
It was an eventful week of homecoming games for Randle, and he closed it off with a spectacular 44-point outing that took the streaking Knicks to a stellar 117-109 victory over the Mavericks in front of a pandemic crowd of 4,000 fans at the American Airlines Center.
The Knicks won their season-high fifth straight game to go a season-high three games over .500 on 30-27, and Randle missed his career high by one point. The Knicks have faced their former star Kristaps Porzingis 3-1 for the past two seasons.
Kristaps who? If the Knicks hadn’t traded Porzingis, who shot 8-for-20, they probably never would have signed Randle.
And Randle made the Knicks forget the Let, which ended with 23 points, but was outclassed by Randle. Knicks fans in the crowd chanted ‘MVP’ as the Dallas native shot free throws in the closing seconds.
RJ Barrett added 24 points with a fourth quarter.
This week, Randle had already taken revenge on his first NBA team, the Lakers, by scoring 34 points and winning by 32 points against his second team, the Pelicans.
But he looked even sharper on Friday, as if he were playing the first game of his season instead of the 56th game of his season.
Randle shot 16-for-29- and 6-for-11 from 3-point range. The left-wing All-Star freight train scored the Knicks’ first 10 points and started the game 4-for-4, attacking its 3-pointers and straying to the basket.
He scored 15 points in the first quarter and took 21 points at halftime when the Knicks led 56-52 at the break. He was 9-for-12 of the field – and 3-for-7 of 3.
Randle had 35 points after three quarters, but an early strike from Barrett in the fourth quarter, with the Knicks strength resting forward, was critical.
Frank Ntilikina, spurred to action by the absence of Alec Burks (who is in COVID-19 protocols), also hit a big 3 pointer.
Knicks center Nerlens Noel, playing on a sore ankle, was gritty with 10 rebounds and three blocks. He also roughened Porzingis and skipped two crucial free throws with 2:10.
The Knicks built a 34-25 lead when Porzingis got off to a slow start, missed a dunk in alley-oop and made two poor turnovers, including throwing an out-of-bounds pass without a Maverick within 3 yards of the area.
The 7-foot-3 Let warmed up late, scoring seven points in the last four minutes of the second quarter, finishing 10 at halftime while also blocking an Elfrid Payton ride.
But Porzingis was inefficient in shooting 4-for-12 at halftime, and Dallas star Luka Doncic was silent.
Porzingis was indeed frustrated with Noel’s physical play. Porzingis suffered a late technical foul in the closing seconds of the half and argued after being pushed as he relapsed after an offensive rebound.
This was the Knicks’ first game without Burks, which is out indefinitely.
Burks will likely have to stay in Dallas when the Knicks fly home to meet the Pelicans at the Garden on Sunday. Burks can be quarantined for 10 days.
Before the game, coach Tom Thibodeau said that “several players have been vaccinated. There was evidence that the majority of the team received COVID-19 vaccinations, but it’s unclear whether Burks was part of the group.