On Friday night, the New York Knicks got a taste of what it will be like to play without Julius Randle.
Jalen Brunson is still with the Knicks, which is good news for them.
When the New York Knicks take on the Washington Wizards in Sunday night’s long-running rivalry game, they will want to keep building momentum for the playoffs.
After playing on Friday, both teams had a day off on Saturday. The Knicks cemented their hold on fifth spot in the Eastern Meeting with a 130-116 success over the host Cleveland Cavaliers while the Wizards’ expectations of fitting the bill for the play-in competition endured one more shot when they wasted a twofold digit final quarter lead in a 116-109 misfortune to the meeting Orlando Wizardry.
Before playing on Sunday, the Knicks (45-33) had a chance to secure a playoff spot thanks to the victory. When the Miami Heat play the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, New York is 2 1/2 games ahead of the sixth-place Brooklyn Nets (42-35) and 4 1/2 games ahead of the seventh-place Miami Heat (40-37). The six best teams in each conference go on to play in the playoffs; the seventh through tenth-place teams compete in a play-in tournament for the two remaining spots.
The main way the Knicks can fall into the play-in competition is on the off chance that they miss out and complete in a three-manner tie for fifth with the Nets and Intensity.
On Friday, Brunson did his best to make that almost impossible when he outlasted Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell and scored a career-high 48 points.
Brunson, who has been absent from seven Knicks games; New York played without Randle for the first time this season, missing 14 games due to hand and foot injuries. Randle is expected to miss at least the rest of the regular season with a left ankle sprain, which he suffered in Wednesday’s 101-92 win over the Heat. In 37 minutes or more, he had nine assists and only two turnovers.
Friday’s loss and the Chicago Bulls’ 121-91 victory over the Charlotte Hornets put the Wizards (34-43) three games behind the 10th-place Chicago Bulls in the standings. Five games remain for Chicago and Washington.
Since February 1, the Wizards have lost six of their last eight games and are 10-17, only three times having won consecutive games. When Washington took a 96-85 lead into the fourth quarter against the Magic, they seemed ready to start a much-needed winning streak.
However, the Wizards shot just 21.7 percent (5-of-23) in the final 12 minutes and were 1-of-11 from 3-point land against the zone defense employed by Orlando, which finished the game on a 31-13 run. The Wizards were also without their three leading scorers, Kristaps Porzingis (illness), Bradley Beal (left knee), and Kyle Kuzma (right ankle), and played the second half without point guard Monte Morris (right ankle). Orlando went on to win the game.
Porzingis, Kuzma, and Beal won’t play Sunday. Morris is listed as being in doubt.
