After a rough start to the season, Julius Randle seems to be trending in the right direction.
He has 50 points, 26 rebounds and eight assists over the last two games, both Knicks wins.
Randle had, arguably, his best game of the young season on Wednesday night. The two-time All Star had 23 points, 16 rebounds and five assists in a win over San Antonio.
Mitchell Robinson played a small but significant role in Randle’s strong play.
The Knicks have had success running Randle-Robinson pick-and-rolls lately. As Randle explained after Wednesday’s win, his pick-and-roll with Robinson takes some of the opponents’ size out of the paint.
This has opened things up for Randle.
“Naturally, I’m playing one on one downhill rather than beating my guy and trying to finish over another one,” he said. “So size is out of the paint, they’ve got to make a decision and it frees things up a little bit.”
Ball movement has also helped unlock Randle and the Knicks.
In the first six games of the season, the starters averaged a combined 178.5 passes per game. They had 204 against the Clippers. Tracking data for Wednesday’s game wasn’t available at the time this article was published, but the Knicks seemed to move the ball really well against San Antonio.
They had 28 assists and three turnovers. Randle, RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson combined for 17 assists between them.
“That’s the key. Ball movement. Everybody gets touches. Play off each other. Everybody naturally gets in rhythm and (the ball) always finds you,” Randle said afterward.
The ball found Randle often on Wednesday. The Knicks found success when it did.
BARRETT BRINGING IT
Traditionally, RJ Barrett struggles with his shot early in a season and finds his rhythm as the season progresses. That hasn’t happened this year. In six games, Barrett is shooting a career-high 47 percent from beyond the arc and 47 percent overall. He’s hit 26 of 30 free-throw attempts.
“I think I’ve been just trying to work on it, make sure my touch is right because they’re going to leave me open with Jalen and Julius constantly getting in the paint,” Barrett said after a 24-point, six-assist night against San Antonio. “So I got to knock my shots down.”
So far, so good.
WEMBY WOBBLY VS NYK
In his Garden debut, rookie Victor Wembanyama had 14 points and nine rebounds. Solid counting stats, but the Knicks held Wembanyama in check for much of the night. He missed eight of nine shots and had three turnovers in the first three quarters.
The Knicks sent an extra defender to Wembanyama at times on Wednesday. Mitchell Robinson also defended Wembanyama well. According to ESPN, Wembanyama went 0-for-6 when Robinson defended him.
“I think Mitch did a great job just understanding what Wemby likes to do, making it difficult for him,” Brunson said. “It’s the NBA. It’s really hard to stop people one on one. But I think Mitch did a great job of trying to make everything difficult for him. The whole team did. We tried to show him bodies. Obviously he can see over everybody. We just tried to make it difficult for him.”
Brunson had tape on his right (non-shooting) hand. He seemed to be flexing it at times during the game. But he said afterward that it was fine. Even if he was hurt, Brunson wouldn’t acknowledge it publicly. He had 25 points, six assists and zero turnovers against San Antonio.