The New York Knicks are on a roll right now.
Tom Thibodeau’s team is finding different ways of winning, even when their go-to-guy isn’t hot or when the other team is playing stout defense.
That was evident again during their road win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
They allowed D’Angelo Russell to go off for 33 points, but they held Anthony Davis to just 17 points on 18 shots.
Julius Randle and RJ Barrett combined for 63 of 112 points for them, and Darvin Ham simply had no answer for them all night long.
Following the loss, Davis took the blame for his team’s shortcomings.
However, he also gave Barrett and Randle their flowers for such an efficient and dominant outing, praising them for finding ways to hurt them throughout the whole game.
"Got hot early on Julius did; RJ at the end…offensive rebounds…extra possessions for them…We calmed Julius down a little bit…then RJ…made plays for them"
–– Anthony Davis after Lakers lose to Knicks on Julius Randle & RJ Barrett's combined 63 pointspic.twitter.com/zUKrafVW4W
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 13, 2023
Needless to say, that only made this victory even sweeter for Knicks fans, who flooded social media to laud their best players of the game.
MAPLE MAMBA
— Linked's Options Trades📈 (@Linkedplays) March 13, 2023
RJ to his haters: pic.twitter.com/kdH1vbPzaT
— Did the Knicks Win? (@knickswintrack) March 13, 2023
— salah.eth (@buffalokidsalah) March 13, 2023
Randle/RJ and the bench carried us to the win. Hartenstein was outstanding on AD
The last 5 mins were concerning in terms of execution though. Basketball IQ must improve
— kap (@hopefulmetsfan) March 13, 2023
Your fans wanted to trade Julius randle for the last 10 months
— Buk Marley (@BukMarleyNY) March 13, 2023
Following a complicated tenure, Randle was reportedly on the trade block entering the season.
He regressed last year and even had some altercations with the fans and coaching staff, but he’s gone back to his old self with Jalen Brunson setting the table for him.
As for Barrett, he has failed to live up to the expectations that came with him as a top-5 pick, and chances are that he might never become an All-Star caliber player.
Nonetheless, he’s shown glimpses of greatness every now and then, and he’s certainly better than most teams’ third-best players.
NEXT: Darvin Ham Comments On Lakers Loss To Knicks
