It was a Knicks-Hawks battle for fourth seed and home advantage, and it turned into a night of bloody carnage and overtime in the crazy Garden.
Julius Randle scored 40 points and the Knicks (33-27) won their eighth game in a row, registering a 137-127 victory on Wednesday night in front of a wild crowd of 2,000 that was hyped directly from the national anthem. The Knicks had their longest winning streak since 2014, winning eight times in a row.
With their 3-point shooting frenzy, the Knicks survived the physical battle that forced Hawks superstar Trae Young to miss the fourth quarter and OT.
More importantly, the Knicks came into exclusive possession of fourth place in the Eastern Conference, meaning that if the season ended today, they would host a first-round playoff series. And it could be against these hot Hawks, who beat the Knicks 3-0 in the season series. There are a dozen games left for the Knicks’ first postseason since 2013.
Randle now has two outings this season with 40 points against the Hawks. He scored two big baskets in the last 1:18 of the fourth quarter, but the Knicks couldn’t finish Atlanta. Randle, however, dealt the Hawks the death knell in OT, deflated a 3-pointer and poured to Reggie Bullock (18 points) for another 3 to put the Knicks eight points higher with 2:30 left.
“It feels good, but we’re not done yet,” Randle said on the field after the thriller. “We knew we had to have it. We know what we’re fighting for at the end of the day. There were a lot of times. that we could let go of the crude oil, but we didn’t. We’re just a bunch of guys who bring a helmet for every game. “
Before leaving, Randle roared to the screaming crowd, “New York, we’re here!”
Randle shot 6-for-8 on 3-pointers, while the Knicks discharged 19 of the 35 shots from outside the arc on the evening. Derrick Rose fouled late in the fourth quarter, but finished with 20 runs. Rookie Immanuel Quickley was warmed up from a 3-point range (4-for-6 shooting) and finished with 20 points.
It was a violent game. The Knicks lost their two centers, Nerlens Noel and Taj Gibson, to bloody facial injuries, then their third string center, Norvel Pelle, knocked out Young.
In the last minute of the third quarter, Young drove down the track and Pelle contested his shot, got entangled and landed on Young’s foot. Young, wearing goggles to protect his injured right eye, fell on the court holding his left ankle, squirming and pounding the floor with his hand. Young was helped off the track by three of his teammates. He had 18 points and 10 assists at half time (he finished 20 and 14), which he used to train the Knicks.
The Hawks led with seven to enter the fourth quarter, but had Brandon Goodwin running in place of Young, who was out after spraining his ankle.
Goodwin missed a free throw with 28 seconds left in the regulation, and when Randle scored on a drive, the Knicks led by four runs. But the Hawks rallied to send the game to extra time.
Bogdan Bogdanovic came in with 8.4 seconds to go and got some space with Bullock picked and pushed a 3-pointer over Noel with 6.2 seconds to go to even out. Randle’s 5-foot buzzer beater was missing.
Gibson was lost in the second quarter when he was hit in the eye during a fight for a rebound and suffered a cracked eyelid. Noel joined him in the middle of the third quarter when Atlanta’s star center Clint Capela elbowed him in the mouth after blocking a shot that collapsed in court in agony. He left for the locker room and joined Gibson.
Noel returned to a big hand of the Garden crowd in the fourth quarter and had a big block late in the fourth and OT.
It was a fireworks frenzy in the first half, leaving the Knicks behind on the Hawks 69-67 while Young punished them.