BBNBA: Vintage Julius Randle leads Knicks to Blowout
2020-21 was a dream regular season for Julius Randle and the New York Knicks. Randle helped lead New York to the playoffs for the first time since 2013 while winning the Most Improved Player Award along the way. After losing to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the Playoffs, expectations for the young Knicks were still high. After missing out on big free agents (again) that offseason, the Knicks disappointed in 2021-22, finishing 37-45 and missing the playoffs.
One of the scapegoats of last season was Randle and his less-than-stellar attitude toward the Knicks and the fans. Trade rumors swirled all offseason about whether or not New York would trade Randle, but he stayed pat. Instead, the Knicks pulled off a sign-and-trade for former Villanova star Jalen Brunson to be the team’s point guard of the future.
In the first game of the season, the Knicks fell to the Grizzlies in overtime thanks to Murray State alum Ja Morant’s 34 points. In their two games since that overtime loss, the Knicks have been outstanding. They beat the Pistons by 26 on Friday night and the Magic, led by #1 overall pick Paolo Banchero, by 13 points on Monday night.
In three games this season, Randle is averaging 21.3 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 3.3 APG. The sample size is small, but if Randle continues to play this well, he could be on his way to putting up similar numbers that he did two seasons ago. The young core in New York, led by former Randle, Brunson, former SEC Player of the Year Immanuel Quickley and Mitchell Robinson, has to have Knicks fans excited about what they can do this season.
Keldon Johnson, San Antonio Hold off Minnesota, Improve to 3-1
Ladies and gentlemen, the San Antonio Spurs might be ahead of schedule.
Since the dynasty days of Tim Duncan & Tony Parker have ended, the Spurs have been on a skid. San Antonio had made the playoffs in 22 consecutive seasons from 1998-2019 until that streak ended in 2020. The Spurs haven’t been back to the postseason since then, but they have been very impressive in four games this season. In the fourth year of their rebuild, young stars such as Keldon Johnson, Jakob Poeltl, Devin Vassell & Jeremy Sochan have begun to bloom under Hall of Fame head coach Gregg Popovich.
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Johnson continued his impressive early season run last night, scoring 18 points in 34 minutes of action. He is the leading scorer on a 3-1 team that is looking to re-discover its identity. He even scored an and-one on Karl-Anthony Towns, which was followed up with some flexing.
In what has been somewhat of a disappointing start for the new-look Timberwolves so far, Towns still had an impressive night, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in 39 minutes of action. In two games of the Towns/Gobert Twin Towers experiment, the Wolves are just 2-2.
Herro sets Career High in Rebounds Despite Loss to Toronto
Although the Heat fell at home to Toronto on Monday night, “The Bucket” set an interesting career high. Tyler Herro led Miami in rebounding, grabbing 15 boards in 40 minutes of action. He also scored 22 points. Herro’s career high in rebounds at Kentucky was 13 in their 86-69 drumming of the #1 ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Herro’s Miami teammate, Bam Adebayo, notched his usual double-double but was somewhat disappointing, as he made only four of his 14 attempted shots.
10/24/2022 Statistics
| Player | Score | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | MIN | +/- |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) | L vs SAS (106-115) | 27 | 9-17 (2-6) | 11 | 5 | — | — | 4 | 39 | -4 |
| Julius Randle (NYK) | W vs ORL (115-102) | 25 | 10-19 (2-9) | 12 | 4 | 1 | — | 2 | 34 | +4 |
| Tyler Herro (MIA) | L vs TOR (90-98) | 22 | 8-18 (2-9) | 15 | 4 | 1 | — | 4 | 40 | -12 |
| Keldon Johnson (SAS) | W vs MIN (115-106) | 18 | 8-20 (1-6) | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | 1 | 34 | +5 |
| Bam Adebayo (MIA) | L vs TOR (90-98) | 14 | 4-14 (0-0) | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 38 | +5 |
| Jarred Vanderbilt (UTA) | L vs HOU (108-114) | 13 | 6-10 (0-1) | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 32 | -9 |
| Shaedon Sharpe (POR) | W vs DEN (135-115) | 11 | 4-6 (1-2) | 11 | — | — | — | 1 | 16 | +7 |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | W vs IND (120-106) | 8 | 3-11 (2-5) | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 2 | 38 | +4 |
| Jamal Murray (DEN) | L vs POR (110-135) | 8 | 3-12 (2-4) | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | 27 | -15 |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | L vs PHI (106-120) | 5 | 1-2 (0-0) | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | 18 | 0 |
| Immanuel Quickley (NYK) | W vs ORL (115-102) | 0 | 0-5 (0-4) | 6 | 8 | 1 | — | 2 | 23 | 0 |
| Olivier Sarr (POR) | W vs DEN (135-115) | DNP-Wrist | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| TyTy Washington (HOU) | W vs UTAH (114-108) | DNP-Knee | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Tonight in the NBA
7:00: Pistons (Diallo, Knox, Noel) @ Wizards
7:30 (TNT): Mavericks @ Pelicans
8:00: Clippers (Boston, Wall) @ Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander)
10:00 (TNT): Warriors @ Suns (Booker)
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