Julius Randle exploded for 57 points on Monday, but even an all-time performance from him was not enough for the New York Knicks to take down a Minnesota Timberwolves team without two of their best players in Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Randle already had 52 points by the end of the third quarter, but he was the lone bright spot for the Knicks as the rest of the team failed to step up. Jalen Brunson and Immanuel Quickley did have 23 and 19 respectively, but New York didn't put up any fight defensively to make life hard for the Timberwolves.
Taurean Prince had an incredible night for the Timberwolves, as he went 8-of-8 from deep en route to a team-high 35 points. Minnesota used a balance offense to counter Randle's huge performance, with a total of seven players scoring in double figures.
Naturally Knicks fans are disappointed with how the team played. They could have easily won the showdown with Randle dominating, but in the end, the rest simply didn't show up when it mattered most.
“Brutal loss Knicks! Wasted a Julius Randle masterpiece!” a frustrated New York fan said.
“People trying to pinpoint all the blame for the Knicks' loss on Julius Randle after he dropped 57 is remarkable, it's almost as if defense and literally any other player doing something more so one guy doesn't run out of gas would've been nice,” another disappointed ‘Bockers faithful added.
A third commenter added, “What a terrible loss for the Knicks. Julius Randle had 52 through 3 quarters but Taurean Prince decided to have the best game of his career to spoil it.”
“Heartbreaking Knicks loss. Julius Randle put the team on his back but Brunson needs to have the ball to set up a play at the end. Can't have IQ randomly chucking fadeaway 2s in crunch time anymore,” a Twitter user added.
It's certainly a tough blow for the Knicks. It was a very winnable contest, but the Timberwolves simply wanted it more. Hopefully, though, they learned their lesson from the game.
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