BBNBA: Julius Randle scores 20+ for 18th straight game as Knicks beat Wolves
2024, say hello to former Kentucky Wildcats dominating the NBA.
The New York Knicks and Julius Randle defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves and fellow former UK star Karl-Anthony Towns 112-106 on Monday night in New York. Towns, who has been struggling with a scoring drought in recent games, started the game off strong by getting the first bucket of the game within the first 10 seconds. However, Randle took control on the other end of the court and drained a three to put the Knicks on the board.
Although the Timberwolves maintained possession in the first quarter and outscored the Knicks by nearly 10 points, New York came back stronger in the second quarter and outscored Minnesota 38-17. Going into halftime, the Knicks were up 61-49. Randle made up 21 of those 61 points heading into the locker room — his 18th consecutive game with at least 20 points.
Coming out of the half, Randle’s scoring luck slowed down a bit as he only had six points in the third quarter. However, his team carried the weight and still outscored the Wolves 33-29 in the third. Towns and Minnesota found themselves down 94-78 at the start of the fourth. KAT and his 11 points within the first six minutes of the quarter cut their deficit to four points with six minutes remaining.
But in those final six minutes, Randle exploded and scored 11 points of his own (finishing with 39 on the night) to get the Knick’s lead back to 110-102 with 23.1 seconds remaining. Both former Kentucky big men rang in the new year on a big scoring night, but Randle and the Knicks came out on top in the end.
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UK big guys rule the world
Another former Kentucky big man had a monster night of his own in Los Angeles. Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat fell to the Los Angeles Clippers 121-104 on Monday night. Although his team fell short, Adebayo came away with a 21-point and 15-rebound double-double.
Miami came out hot in the first quarter as they outscored the Clippers 35-23. With three minutes left in the first quarter, it was a 20-19 game with the Heat in the lead and Tyler Herro was a big part in getting the scoring run started as he hit a three to make it 23-19.
The Clippers were not going to go down without a fight as they headed into halftime with a one-point lead of 59-58. Adebayo finished with 14 of his 21 points coming in the second half of the matchup, but his impressive performance was not enough to bring his team to a victory.
Other BBNBA notes
- Immanuel Quickley who was traded to the Toronto Raptors by the Knicks over the weekend, came away with 14 points in his debut in Toronto. Quickley went 2-5 from behind the arc and had six rebounds and three assists in the Raptors’ 124-121 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
- Isaiah Jackson scored 18 points in 20 minutes played in the Pacers win over the Bucks on Monday night. Jackson went 6-9 from the field and 6-7 from the stripe in the 122-113 victory.
- Jamal Murray led the Nuggets in scoring as he finished with 25 in Denver’s 111-93 win over the Hornets. 15 of Murray’s 25 points came from the three-point line which made him the leading scorer for the Nuggets on Monday night.
BBNBA 1/1/2024 Statistics
| PLAYER | SCORE | PTS | FG (3PT) | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | +/- | MIN |
| Julius Randle (NYK) | 112-106 W vs MIN | 39 | 14-24 (2-6) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 36 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) | 112-106 L @ NYK | 29 | 10-18 (3-5) | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 32 |
| Jamal Murray (DEN) | 111-93 W vs CHA | 25 | 7-16 (5-9) | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 27 |
| Bam Adebayo (MIA) | 121-104 L @ LAC | 21 | 6-17 (0-2) | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -12 | 36 |
| Isaiah Jackson (IND) | 122-113 W @ MIL | 18 | 6-9 (0-0) | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 20 |
| Nick Richards (CHA) | 111-93 L @ DEN | 15 | 7-12 (0-0) | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -29 | 30 |
| Immanuel Quickley (TOR) | 124-121 W vs CLE | 14 | 5-13 (2-5) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
| Tyler Herro (MIA) | 121-104 L @ LAC | 12 | 4-13 (4-8) | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | -29 | 35 |
| Kevin Knox (DET) | 136-113 L vs HOU | 11 | 4-7 (1-4) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5 | 23 |
| Devin Booker (PHX) | 109-88 W vs POR | 10 | 4-16 (1-4) | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 31 |
| PJ Washington (CHA) | 111-93 L @ DEN | 6 | 2-5 (1-3) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 26 |
| Shaedon Sharpe (POR) | 109-88 L @ PHX | 6 | 2-8 (0-5) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -14 | 18 |
| Brandon Boston Jr. (LAC) | 121-104 W vs MIA | 0 | 0-1 (0-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 3 |
| Jacob Toppin (NYK) | 112-106 W vs MIN | DNP-CD | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Chris Livingston (MIL) | 122-113 L vs IND | DNP-CD | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Tonight in the NBA
- 7:00 (NBA TV) | Bulls @ 76ers (Maxey)
- 8:00 | Celtics @ Thunder (Gilgeous-Alexander, Sarr: 2Way, Wallace)
- 8:00 | Nets @ Pelicans
- 8:00 | Spurs (Johnson: probable) @ Grizzlies
- 10:00 | Hornets (Richards, PJ Washington) @ Kings (Fox, Lyles, Monk)
- 10:00 (NBA TV) | Magic @ Warriors
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