Randle lifts Knicks past Heat to snap a 5 game losing streak

Julius Randle returned to play after going through some serious stuff, the loss of his grandmother a few days earlier. He missed the previous two games but yesterday he carried the Knicks to an epic victory over the Miami Heat, 124-121 at the Garden.

Boxscore

“My grandmother left an incredible legacy and mark on my life and my family, so it has been tough. It’ll still be tough, but tonight was special and I really felt her out there the whole time.”

– Julius Randle

Randle scored 11 of his total 26 points in the fourth quarter, when the Knicks made a run that gave them the first lead of the second half and in a heartbreaking ending, the win.

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The Knicks trailed by as many as 14 points late in the third quarter but they managed to outscore the Heat 40-27 in the final act, when they shot over 57% from the field and missed just two free throws out of 16 attempts.

Throughout the entire game, Miami had the better numbers. They shot 53.8% from the field, including 40% from behind the arc compared to New York’s 51.7% (with just 29% from long distance). The two teams mirrored each other from the free throw line, taking 28 frees and making 23.

But that’s not the only chapter where numbers resembled. Both teams had 24 assists. The Heat totalized 24 personal fouls, the Knicks 23. Miami had 38 rebounds and 4 blocks, the Knicks had 39 and and 3.

The big difference was made, however, by the steals & turnovers. While the Knicks had 11 steals and just 7 turnovers, their Florida rivals made just 2 interceptions and had twice as many TOs.

RJ Barrett scored 23 points and 5 boards and Kevin Knox added 17 buckets off the bench in one of his better games of 2020. Reggie Bullock, who made another start added 16 points for New York.

All five starters finished in double figures as Taj Gibson had 14 points and 8 rebounds while Elfryd Payton scored 10. Kadeem Allen who played 17 minutes, shot 4-7 from the field for 10 points.

The Heat were led by Jimmy Butler’s 25 points and 10 rebounds. Butler could have change the fate of the game but his attempts were stopped. He was fouled on a three point attempt with 21 seconds on the clock when his team was trailing by three but he missed the third shot. He then missed a layup defended by Gibson but the Heat kept the ball.

Butler forced another layup on their next possession with 4.4 on the clock but Gibson blocked it. As Barrett missed a free throw, the Heat called timeout and put all their effort on Bam Adebayo’s long three but his basket came after the buzzer.