The Knicks struggled to blow leads during the three-game lost streak they lugged into Detroit on Saturday night.
This time, however, they were able to quickly build such an insurmountable lead that coach Tom Thibodeau even left Julius Randle alone for the entire fourth quarter.
Randle was on fire and delivered a blistering first quarter to drive the Knicks to a 125-81 victory over the Pistons at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.
Randle, who struggled with a home loss to the Mavericks on Friday, finished with 29 points and Reggie Bullock added 22. when the Knicks opened a 30-point lead in the first half. RJ Barrett, who also had a bad night on Friday, scored 14 points and Elfrid Payton had 11 points and nine assists.
The Knicks (25-25) shot 53.8 percent (and 47.4 percent from deep) to make a three-game loss and go back to .500. They have a showdown against the Nets that awaits Monday after Sunday’s well-deserved day off.
Randle was the face of the Knicks fight in the first half of the back-to-back, scoring just 14 points on 5-for-20 shots (including 1-for-7 from deep) on Friday in an unusual night for the All-Star. He wasn’t alone, as the Knicks shot just 36 percent of the field against the Mavericks, their third worst run of the season, and blew a double digit lead for a second game in a row.
But Randle immediately ensured that Saturday would have a completely different finish.
At the Knicks’ first two possessions, Randle drained one angle 3 pointer and then drilled another from the opposite angle. With two holdings, he had earned more three-pointers than all Friday night. And he had only just begun.
Early on, it was Randle and Bullock’s show. The two together scored 28 of the Knicks’ first 30 points, including a pair of treys each during a 14-0 run in the first 3 ¹ / ₂ minutes. It took Randle only 6:53 to beat his Friday night score. He finished the first quarter with 20 points, while Bullock scored in 14 points. The two shot together 8-for-12 from outside the arc in the first 12 minutes.
The result: The Knicks scored a season-high 41 points in the first quarter as they took a 41-15 lead to the second.
The lead grew as big as 30 points in the first half, when a Derrick Rose jumper netted the Knicks 51-21 early in the second quarter. The Pistons finally started to fight back from there, going on a 13-3 run to narrow the Knicks’ lead to 60-41 by half time.
Perhaps most importantly, the Knicks came out in the third quarter and showed little sign of delay. After a nine-point lead against the Heat on Monday, an 18-point lead against the Timberwolves on Wednesday and a 13-point lead against the Mavericks on Friday, the Knicks kept their foot on the accelerator in the second half. The Pistons came within 17 points in the third quarter before the Knicks pushed their lead back to 27 at 88-61 en route to fourth.
Before the game, Thibodeau had pointed to a lack of ball movement that hurt the Knicks as much as the key players who didn’t shoot well in Friday’s 99-86 loss to the Mavericks. Saturday they got both.
“The great thing is when our main guys aren’t having a good night, we still have to do all the other things to lift each other up – from screening to moving the ball to finishing our distance and stuff,” Thibodeau said. . “But it’s something we can do, we understand that. It requires energy and effort. It’s a long season and you have to get through things. “