ORLANDO, Fla. — If Julius Randle continues to blow his stack this often, the Knicks just might blow what’s left of their suddenly precarious lead on a playoff position.
The All-Star forward argued with officials and teammate Immanuel Quickley at the end of the first half, and despite the Knicks rallying from a 19-point deficit to tie the score, they dropped their third consecutive game Thursday night, 111-106, to the Magic at Amway Center.
In his latest outburst this month, Randle was assessed a technical foul for a third straight game at the halftime horn by referee Leon Wood.
He was pulled away from the argument by Quickley, and the teammates jawed with each other for several seconds on the way to the locker room.
The Knicks kept the room closed for 40 minutes following the game, and they did not make Randle available to the media.
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“It’s just right now our team, just we’re out of sorts. And so you have to pull together, when you go through rough times,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You get into things together, you get out of things together.
“So it’s just we have to do it, do everything a lot better. And we have to be committed to doing it as a team. There’s going to be ups and downs that we have to navigate. Everyone does. And we can’t lose sight of what we’re trying to get accomplished.”
Randle had netted a career-high 57 points — tied for the third-highest single-game total in team history — in a home loss Monday against the Timberwolves. But the All-Star forward followed that up by shooting 7-for-16 and scoring 15 points, albeit with nine assists, in Wednesday’s loss in Miami. He finished Thursday’s loss with 23 points, but he missed 13 of 20 from the field and seven of nine from 3-point range.
Quentin Grimes had his second straight strong game with five made 3-pointers and 25 points, and Quickley also netted 25 while starting in place of Jalen Brunson, who was a late scratch due to a sprained right hand suffered against the Heat.
The fifth-place Knicks’ lead has dwindled to 1 ½ games over the Heat, who have jumped over the Nets into sixth after the latter’s loss Thursday night against the Cavaliers.
“Yeah man, frustration. Everybody … we’re fighting. We want to make the playoffs,” said RJ Barrett, who shot 3-for-12 and scored 10 points. “When you lose, especially right now … every loss matters so much. We’re trying and sometimes, that happens.”
Grimes and Quickley drained 3-pointers and Randle threw down an emphatic dunk as the Knicks cut their first 19-point deficit to 53-45 by halftime.
Randle appeared to be fouled on a driving bucket late in the second, but he didn’t get the call and argued with Wood after the horn sounded, with Quickley attempting to defuse the situation.
“Honestly, everybody’s trying to win. Heat of the moment. That’s basically what it is,” Quickley said. “We all want to win. We’re all trying to get dubs.
“That’s all I can really say. Sometimes that happens. It’s part of sports, part of what it takes to be a professional athlete. It’s not just basketball. It’s other things with that. But everybody is trying to win.”
Randle has talked often this season about being in a better frame of mind and a desire to cut down on his tech total after a trying season in 2021-22. But he also had thrown a tantrum during a March 11 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles, and he needed to be physically restrained in that game by Thibodeau. Randle now has 11 technical fouls for the season, one less than he received one year ago.
“There’s emotion involved, so you want the emotion to get out of it. And then sometimes when you talk, it clears the air, so that’s good,” Thibodeau said. “You allow for idiosyncrasies, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of winning. Nothing can get in the way of winning. The team always has to come first. And so everyone’s responsible for that.”
Franz Wagner sank the technical free throw before the start of the third, and the Magic opened the second half with a 16-5 spurt for a second 19-point advantage.
Still, Grimes scored 12 in the quarter and Quickley added nine, including two free throws to tie the score, 75-75, one possession after Randle had nailed a corner trey for his first points of the period.
The Magic regained the lead in the fourth and went up by eight on Wagner’s breakaway dunk off a turnover by Barrett.
Randle’s three-point play closed the gap to two with four minutes remaining, but Gary Harris, Wendell Carter Jr., Paulo Banchero and Cole Anthony all connected from beyond the arc for a 107-99 game with 1:01 to go.