Edward R. Murrow had “Good night, and good luck.” Walter Cronkite’s go-to was “… and that’s the way it is.” At the end of every concert he’s ever given, Billy Joel has advised his audience, “Don’t take any s–t from anyone.”
Tom Thibodeau’s signature line is this: “It’s a make-or-miss league.”
Thus it ever was, thus it ever shall be. Friday night the Knicks capped an emotional comeback win over the Heat because Jimmy Butler saw a game-winning 3 rattle in and out at the buzzer. On Sunday, it was Devin Booker, taking a desperate fadeaway from almost the exact same spot, 1.7 seconds from the end. That one went in. The Suns would take a wild and fun and ultimately gut-wrenching game for the Knicks, 116-113.
Miss on Friday, make on Sunday. Make-or-miss league, indeed.
“Sometimes,” Thibodeau said when it was over, choosing to paraphrase rather than quote himself, “it comes down to shot-making.”
For a second straight day the Knicks spent a large portion of the game paying tribute to Joe Riggins, the manager in “Bull Durham,” wasting precious chunks lollygagging on defense and lollygagging on offense. Thibodeau did not quote Riggins, but he was clearly displeased with the surplus of lollygagging, as were the 19,812 who witnessed it.
“The way we came out really hurt us,” he said. “They beat us to the ball and that’s usually a strength. We got in a hole, used a lot of energy to come back, couldn’t finish it in the end.”
In truth, this could have gotten awfully ugly. A huge reason for that is the way Julius Randle played in the first half. Instead, the Knicks stayed in the game, then were still even through 47 minutes and 58.3 seconds. A huge reason for that was the way Randle played in the third quarter.
And what that did was shine an interrogation-lamp light on the fundamental difference between what the Knicks can be at their most aspirational, as well as what they could be at their most dysfunctional. It isn’t all on Randle, though there is a sizable faction of the fan base that blames him for everything short of letting Bernard King go to Washington.
But a lot of it is. It has to be. Jalen Brunson may be the most essential Knick, and is making an airtight case for himself to be an All-Star. RJ Barrett is an integral part of the team’s DNA. Mitchell Robinson will never win a foul-shooting contest but he makes the defense hum.
But Randle not only is the Knicks’ alpha dog based on past performance — two All-Star Games in the last three, two All-NBA appearances in two of the last three years — but also because when he plays well, the Knicks can play with anyone. When he merely plays OK, they can still compete. But when he drifts into long spasms of ineffectiveness and listlessness …
Well, you have the first half Sunday night, when the Suns — missing Kevin Durant, missing Bradley Beal, missing Grayson Allen — humiliated the Knicks by jumping out to a 15-point lead primarily because the Knicks looked like they wanted to be anywhere other than the floor at Madison Square Garden. And Randle was the chief offender, another stretch where he was a nonfactor on both ends of the floor, a turnover machine with too many lapses of focus and energy.
It’s times like this when the loud elements of Knicks fans who grow easily weary of Randle shout the loudest, and have the most testimony to scream.
Of course, then there was the third quarter, when Randle was brilliant: 17 points, engagement on both ends, no bad shots, no brain cramps with the ball. The Knicks actually took the lead by quarter’s end before handing it back for good. And Randle was the chief reason why.
“I got more involved,” Randle said. “I started getting into the paint more.”
It has been a rough start to the season for Randle. He’s still only shooting 38 percent from the floor, and 27 percent from 3. Even with 28 points Sunday night he is only averaging 19.1, which is too low, and though he was only credited with two turnovers he is averaging 3.3 a game, which is too high.
It was not lost on a lot of Knicks fans that the bulk of the Knicks’ epic comeback against Miami Friday night occurred with Randle on the bench (though he did return for the game’s final four minutes and snared a couple of critical rebounds). He is an imperfect player, an occasionally frustrating player. That’s all fair.
But the difference between the Knicks winning and losing, more often than not, and certainly against quality teams like Phoenix, is the difference between Randle having an excellent game and him having a lousy one. Boo him all you want. First-half Randle deserves all of it.
But if you have true ambitions for the Knicks it’s third-quarter Randle that makes any of it possible, for as long as this is the way the team is built. As an old Knicks fan named Cronkite might have put it: “And that’s the way it is.”
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