\n<\/aside>\nNow Julius Randle must face the music, the Garden\u2019s loyal fans and the \u201cBing-Bongs\u201d when the Knicks host the Spurs on Monday.<\/p>\n
It will be interesting to see the crowd reaction Randle receives when he is introduced as part of the starting lineup before the contest.<\/p>\n
These Knicks fans have taken so much abuse this millennium \u2014 their team having won just one playoff series since 2000.<\/p>\n
But they\u2019ve never been told to \u201cShut the f-\u200a-k up\u201d \u2014 as Randle did in the last home game Thursday.<\/p>\n
During their miracle buzzer-beating win against the Celtics provided by RJ Barrett\u2019s 3-point bank shot and Evan Fournier\u2019s career-high 41 points, Randle gave a thumbs-down gesture to the fans and then explained his action in profane terms afterward.<\/p>\n
This is one fan base in the NBA that doesn\u2019t need a lecture in loyalty. The Brooklyn Nets are a Hall-of-Famer-laden, title-contending powerhouse across the East River and haven\u2019t stolen any of the orange-and-blue diehards.<\/p>\nJulius Randle threw his thumbs-down signal in Thursday\u2019s game.<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe NBA was furious at Randle\u2019s words and gesture, particularly after a Dec. 2 league memo warning about gestures and bad language.<\/p>\n
The league fined him $25,000 on Saturday for \u201cegregious profane language\u2019\u2019 despite an Instagram apology.<\/p>\n
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau noted the bad judgment used by Randle, saying he had \u201ca bad day at work.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an emotional game,\u2019\u2019 Thibodeau said in Boston on Saturday. \u201cWe all sometimes say things we regret later. He said what he had to say. He moved on. None of us are going to be perfect. I\u2019m pleased what he did. He\u2019s been here a while and understands New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t<\/aside>\nThere are signs that Monday could be a bust-out evening for Randle, experiencing a less-than-All-Star campaign (He didn\u2019t finish in the top 10 among Eastern forwards in the early voting returns).<\/p>\n
Randle, a Dallas native, weaved a solid second half in San Antonio last month and finished with 15 points and seven assists. He also showed positive energy when his shots started falling, encouraging his teammates on the court.<\/p>\n
Bad body language has sometimes marked Randle\u2019s campaign when his shots aren\u2019t going down.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Randle was a train wreck and seemed to lose his tenacity in the second half as the Knicks were outscored 55-33 in a 99-75 disaster. Randle even had trouble catching easy passes as the game wore on. All told, Randle committed six turnovers and shot 1-for-7 from 3-point land in scoring 13 points. Randle was not made available for comment in the interview room afterward. Reporters have not been permitted in locker rooms the past two pandemic seasons.<\/p>\n
The best part of Randle\u2019s written apology is he sounded committed to the organization despite his apparent disgust with how he has been treated this season \u2014 whether on social media, traditional media or during games.<\/p>\nJulius Randle must now earn back the trust of Knicks fans.<\/figcaption>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nDespite his big 30-point night against the Pacers on Tuesday, Randle stepped to the line late in the game and the Garden chanted RJ Barrett\u2019s name. It seemed a trolling maneuver as last season they chanted \u201cMVP\u201d at Randle.<\/p>\n
But following Randle\u2019s All-Star campaign in 2020-21, his numbers are down \u2014 especially his 3-point shooting percentage, which has fallen to 31.6 percent from 41.1 percent.<\/p>\n
Randle is no longer shooting 3s in empty arenas as he did much of last season. As one scout said, \u201cIt\u2019s easier to shoot in an empty arena. Now that it\u2019s full again, he\u2019s back to what he was.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Indeed, Randle still hasn\u2019t fully come out of the funk from last season\u2019s playoffs against Atlanta when arenas became nearly packed again.<\/p>\nRandle had 13 points in the Knicks\u2019 loss to the Celtics Sunday.<\/figcaption>NBAE via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nRandle\u2019s woes are only partly the reason the Knicks stand at 19-21 \u2014 in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended today, they would be in the lottery \u2014 not even the play-in tournament.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas nailed the Knicks entering this season, when the sportsbooks came out with their Over\/Under for victories. Vegas had the Knicks tied for eighth place in victories in the Eastern Conference and some Knicks fans shuddered in disbelief.<\/p>\n
But all the concerns after their 41-31, fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference from last season have come to fruition.<\/p>\n
Their age 30-plus point guards, Kemba Walker and Derrick Rose, haven\u2019t stayed healthy. New-signee Fournier hasn\u2019t been consistent enough \u2014 at either end.<\/p>\n
And most of all, Randle hasn\u2019t looked enough like a second-team All-NBA superstar.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now Julius Randle must face the music, the Garden\u2019s loyal fans and the \u201cBing-Bongs\u201d when the Knicks host the Spurs on Monday. It will be interesting to see the crowd reaction Randle receives when he is introduced as part of the starting lineup before the contest. These Knicks fans have taken so much abuse this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[507,215,1303,409],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10848,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10846\/revisions\/10848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}