MADISON SQUARE GARDEN had just played host to one of the season’s most thrilling comebacks. It was Jan. 6, and New York Knicks fans had witnessed a ridiculous buzzer-beating bank shot 3-pointer by RJ Barrett that capped a 24-point rally and win against the Boston Celtics.
It was the Knicks’ fifth victory in their last seven games and a reason for excitement in the home locker room. But for Julius Randle, whose 22 points and eight rebounds aided New York’s great escape, something seemed off when he sat down at the podium.
Randle’s answers were clipped, and terse. After a couple minutes of awkward silences and short replies, he was asked what message he was trying to send by giving a thumbs down to the hometown fans following a bucket midway through the fourth quarter.
“Shut the f— up,” he said, responding to the MSG fans who had rained down boos early in the game with the Knicks trailing by double figures.
It was a sudden release of frustration — emblematic of a season that hasn’t gone how Randle or the Knicks had hoped. The feel-good story he and the Knicks authored during a spirited run to the 2021 Eastern Conference’s No. 4 seed had dissipated with mounting losses through the first half of the 2021-22 season.
After breaking a seven-year playoff drought, the pillars of New York’s run — combined with the franchise’s offseason roster additions — have yielded mediocre results as the Knicks find themselves fighting for a spot in the play-in.
It all leads to one question: Which ending — last season’s frantic finish for home-court advantage or another seat at the lottery dais — is ahead for the Knicks?
“[The Knicks] are a classic example,” an Eastern Conference executive said, “of what happens when you go from the hunter to the hunted.”
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Source : espn
