\n<\/aside>\nThursday\u2019s Knicks-Pelicans game was supposed to be on national television, but was pulled because of Zion Williamson\u2019s season-long absence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is very good thing, sparing the Knicks and Julius Randle a nationally televised embarrassment as the Pelicans rolled to a 102-91 trouncing before a wave of ferocious boos at the Garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the Knicks dropped their third straight, all at home, Randle\u2019s season kept sinking into an abyss in a 1-for-9, four-point train wreck that got him benched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was unable to do a thing against smaller wings assigned to defend him and was booed the most vociferously.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Randle took out his anger on the referees, picking up a technical foul after the first half had ended, then snapping at teammate Evan Fournier who tried to settle him down.\u00a0<\/p>\nJulius Randle during the Knicks\u2019 loss to the Pelicans. <\/figcaption>Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<\/aside>\nThe team said afterward it would not make Randle available to reporters. He hasn\u2019t talked to the media after eight of the last nine games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easy to say that [about Randle being off-kilter], but it\u2019s really our entire team,\u2019\u2019 coach Tom Thibodeau said. \u201cWhen things aren\u2019t going our way, Julius is gonna take a lot of blame. He gets a lot of the credit, but that goes with the turf. But it\u2019s a team game, and we didn\u2019t get into it with any one individual. When they\u2019re not going our way, I just want us to be mentally tough and be able to work through it.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
With 4:50 left in the third quarter, Randle drove, stopped and whipped a pass crosscourt into the stands \u2014 5 feet over the head of Fournier. The boos crashed down the loudest on Randle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One fan screamed from the upper reaches: \u201cC\u2019mon Julius, wake up!\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soon, the Garden fans chanted \u201cO-bi, O-bi\u2019\u2019 for Randle\u2019s backup, Obi Toppin, who finally replaced Randle for good with 1:30 left in the third.\u00a0<\/p>\nJulius Randle turns the ball over. <\/figcaption>Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cThe main thing I\u2019m happy I see guys pissed off about it rather than just joking about it, laughing about it,\u2019\u2019 Taj Gibson said. \u201cWe got some serious guys in the locker room that really want to do well. Nights like this hurt.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the time the 35-15 third quarter had mercifully ended, the Pelicans were up by 24 points, 81-57. It hadn\u2019t been this bad at the Garden since the 2019-20 season. The Knicks shot 37.7 percent \u2014 23.7 from 3 \u2014 and made just 66.7 percent of their free throws, missing 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first five minutes of the third we were in mud,\u2019\u2019 Thibodeau said. \u201cWe played hard, but we didn\u2019t play with the toughness we needed to in terms of fighting through things. The last six games we have this inconsistency we have to fix.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\nTom Thibodeau reacts during the Knicks\u2019 loss to the Pelicans. <\/figcaption>Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Pelicans, who started the season 1-12 and have played around .500 ball since, moved to 17-28. The Knicks fell back to 22-24 but look much worse now than the record.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early in the second quarter, the Knicks fell behind 33-20 after Pelicans backup point guard Jose Alvarado, a Brooklyn native, stole an inbounds pass intended for Immanuel Quickley and coasted in for a layup. Alvarado was a jitterbug and finished with 13 points. Thibodeau called timeout and boos descended onto the court for the first time and hardly the last.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams get up to play in the Garden,\u2019\u2019 RJ Barrett said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great place to be.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Barrett declined to discuss the boos other than saying, \u201cThey outplayed us. They made a lot of shots. And we didn\u2019t. I don\u2019t think we didn\u2019t play hard or didn\u2019t play defense.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knicks made a big run in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to 10 points with 3:35 left and Randle on the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\nJulius Randle argues with a referee.<\/figcaption>Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHearing occasional jeers across the first half in shooting 1 of 7, Randle finally lost it in the final minute. He had a layup attempt underneath blocked by center Jonas Valanciunas, who got all ball but his hand brushed Randle\u2019s face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was no whistle and Randle carried on to the officials as play continued. In the final seconds, Randle drove to the basket, missed at the rim but tipped it in at the buzzer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Randle immediately turned to referee Mitchell Ervin and shouted something as he walked off, drawing technical, then angrily shooing Fournier away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was an ugly scene in an ugly season.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday\u2019s Knicks-Pelicans game was supposed to be on national television, but was pulled because of Zion Williamson\u2019s season-long absence.\u00a0 It is very good thing, sparing the Knicks and Julius Randle a nationally televised embarrassment as the Pelicans rolled to a 102-91 trouncing before a wave of ferocious boos at the Garden.\u00a0 As the Knicks dropped<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[2157,507,215,347,409],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12661"}],"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=12661"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12663,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12661\/revisions\/12663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}