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The Knicks have won a lot more this season than anyone could have imagined and with grace.
And in the past six days, the Knicks have lost three games on final possession to the top two teams in the Eastern Conference – once to the Nets and twice to the Sixers.
And the Knicks didn’t do it so gracefully.
Knicks All-Star Julius Randle can start writing his NBA donation check after his profane zoom call 25 seconds after the game. An enraged Randle blamed the two-person umpiring team for costing them the loss – a 101-100 heartbreaker in overtime at the Garden.
Less than a week ago, an angry Randle attempted to lash out at referee Scott Foster at Barclays Center, but was restrained by his teammates.
A last-second game in which Randle was called in for a top-down trip threw him into a tizzy. He wasn’t fined by the league, but this time it’s a slam dunk.
On Sunday night, the Sixers’ Tobias Harris sank two free throws 5.3 seconds from time to give Philly a 1 point lead after Randle’s free ball foul.
It ended with Randle – and Tom Thibodeau – yelling at the shorthanded umpire for calling the offense. Randle has been a rock and an ironman, but there may be things he needs to tone down. He already has seven techniques. Due to COVID-19 security protocols, the referee team lost one referee, forced to work with two instead of three. The Knicks apparently tried to challenge Randle’s appeal but never got the point across within the allotted time, according to the referees.
On the game in dispute, Randle was flagged for a forearm in Harris’ back as the Long Islander was ready for the rebound. With Harris dislodged, Knicks center Nerlens Noel grabbed the starfruit.
He was waved by the whistle and Harris had his free throws. And the Long Islander, who beat the Knicks five days ago with 30 points, had both in the clutch.
Randle answered a question after the game before storming, saying this heated defensive battle shouldn’t have been decided by such a lean act.
“Bad call from officials,” Randle said. “Not enough contacts for them to call the room. I don’t know who it was – Nerlens [Noel] – but clearly he had possession. After all the dirt and everything that was going on, for them to call it and decide the game is ridiculous. They have to do a better job. It’s too many games like this. ”
Randle then left the Zoom call before he could be asked about the next piece.
After Harris’ free throws, the Knicks star accelerated down, got a decent look before his potential match winner tackled the buzzer. Randle ended the night shooting 7 of 21 – one of his worst shooting lines of his masterful season.
Thibodeau was also raging on the sidelines and even came onto the pitch at one point.
“They said we hadn’t challenged,” Thibodeau said.
He also raised the idea that Randle’s foul was not turning into an end-of-overtime battle.
“Usually at the end of the game there will be – like it looks – marginal contact, accidental contact, any other kind of contact,” said Thibodeau. “All I know is that we were touched a lot and there was no marginal contact about it, so …”
So what. If the Knicks’ argument is that you don’t call a foul in this situation, it won’t be overruled during the video review. It is a bloodless process.
From the mouths of the girls came the remarks of RJ Barrett, 20, who was not going to go.
“I just want to win,” Barrett said. “Referees or no referees, we have to win the game. ”
It was a formidable defensive aerial fight as the Knicks fought again without point guards Derrick Rose and Elfrid Payton.
Thibodeau used swingman Alec Burks to run the point. A Burks-led attack forced the Sixers into overtime and nearly squeaked him with the swingman scoring 20 points.
The Knicks might be feeling angry, but that day it looked bad.
They are not the enemy of East Charlotte, who would have lost her rookie superstar LaMelo Ball for the season with a fractured hand. And it’s not the Lakers, who will play indefinitely without LeBron James after his sprained ankle.
And they’re not the Rockets, whose rookie coach Stephen Silas buried his face and could barely make a sound on Sunday when asked if the team’s 20-game losing streak was heading for his club. .
At 21-22, the Knicks might have wanted to look on the bright side. They are starting to be healthy and Burks can soon return to his usual position.
Rose could be back against Washington on Tuesday and an offense that tallied 85 points in settlement will be revived.
Center Mitchell Robinson made his comeback after a 15-game absence and was extremely rusty – blowing three usually automatic throwbacks. Rookie Immanuel Quickley, after an absence of a match with a sprained ankle, started again and was not ready (4 out of 12). The Knicks are better when Quickley comes off the bench as the sixth man and lines up with Rose. It will happen soon.
Barrett admitted the locker room was angry.
“Everyone wants to win,” Barrett said. “When we lose, especially a game like this, a game we should have won, it’s a hard way to lose. ”
It’s also a difficult way to overreact – Randle in particular.
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