Last season, Julius Randle was an All-Star, the NBA’s Most Improved Player, named to the league’s all-second team and led the New York Knicks to an unexpected playoff berth.
Those accolades earned Randle a significant contract extension. The follow-up season, however, has featured enough disappointing moments for some fans to clamor for his departure from New York ahead of the trade deadline.
Randle and the rest of the Knicks stayed put through the deadline, however. The forward is in the midst of his best stretch of the season heading into Saturday’s visit to the retooled Portland Trail Blazers.
Randle is averaging 29.5 points and 12.0 rebounds on 48.3 percent (42 of 87) from the field in his past four games as the Knicks have sped up their offense. It is the second time this season Randle has scored at least 20 points in four consecutive games. That’s in a campaign in which his scoring average has dropped from a career-best 24.1 points last season to 19.3.
The other time was a six-game stretch Dec. 14-25 when the Knicks split those games. This time New York is 1-3 in Randle’s hot streak, but the Knicks are coming off their most unlikely win of the season.
Randle scored 28 points in a 116-114 win at Golden State on Thursday. The unexpected win halted a six-game road skid and was only their third win in 13 games since going one game over .500 on Jan. 15.
“He drives it,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said of Randle. “When he plays like that, and we’ve said it all along, it drives the team, if we play with pace in transition but also pace in the half court.”
Randle’s performance occurred on a night when second-leading scorer RJ Barrett sat out with a sprained left ankle that could keep him out Saturday.
Like the Knicks, Portland sits outside a play-in berth and is seeking consecutive wins for the first time since Jan. 21-23.
The Trail Blazers are 2-8 in their past 10 games, amid a stretch when they traded CJ McCollum to New Orleans and Norman Powell, along with Robert Covington, to the Los Angeles Clippers. The deals allowed Portland to get under the luxury tax threshold of $136.6 million.
On Wednesday, the Blazers halted a six-game skid by eking out a 107-105 win over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers.
Anfernee Simons scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and is averaging 22.6 points in his past 20 games, including a 43-point showing against Atlanta on Jan. 3, along with a pair of 31-point games.
Jusuf Nurkic added 19 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double
“Man, it was great,” Simons said. “Just to see everybody playing well, coming together and being a good team.”
The only new arrival to play Wednesday was Justise Winslow, who scored 11 points when Portland shot 47.2 percent and scored 58 points in the paint. Josh Hart, who was obtained for McCollum, sat out but could make his debut Saturday along with Eric Bledsoe, who arrived from the Clippers.
The teams split the series last season. Simons scored 16 points in Portland’s 116-113 home win on Jan. 24, 2021 and Randle collected 22 and 11 rebounds in New York’s 110-96 home win on Feb. 6, 2021.
