Julius Randle ended the preseason in style.
Randle capped a fourth-quarter comeback by connecting on an 18-foot buzzer beater from the right side to lift the Knicks to a 115-113 victory over the Wizards and a 4-0 preseason in front of 12,258 raucous fans at the Garden on Friday night.
The Garden crowd chanted “Let’s Go Knicks’’ and “De-fense’’ across the wild fourth quarter. And the games don’t even count yet.
After trailing by double digits most of the night — including by 15 after the third quarter — the Knicks made a spirited fourth-quarter comeback. Before Randle’s game-winner, Derrick Rose led the rally with 28 points as Kemba Walker, who struggled on defense, sat out for the final period.
“Huge shot, great game for us,’’ Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Finding a way to win at the end is the most important thing.”
Randle, after a poor shooting night, came alive late and finished with 21 points. The Knicks put the clamps down on the Wizards in the final minutes.
It made for a winning return by Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, who had been out since late March following surgery for a broken foot. He didn’t show too much rust, but admitted he was very tired as he came off the bench to play 27 spirited minutes, scoring six points with nine rebounds. Robinson’s minutes were extended because starting center Taj Gibson fouled out, ruining Thibodeau’s plan of just getting Mitchell’s “feet wet.’’
The fans gave him a huge ovation when he checked into the game in the first quarter.
“It felt great for the fans to welcome me back,’’ Robinson said.
Robinson’s highlight came in the first half, when he grabbed a rebound of his own miss and flushed down a hard dunk. The ball caromed off his foot into the stands and he flexed his newly built muscles.
Robinson said he hopes to be the starter Wednesday on opening night versus the Celtics. Nerlens Noel missed the entire preseason with a hamstring injury.
“It was great to see Mitch out there for his first game,’’ Thibodeau said. “We had no idea what it would look like. He makes a big difference.’’
The Knicks rested Alec Burks to get a better read on rookie shooting guard Quentin Grimes. He was off the mark most of the night, but then connected on a huge 3-pointer in the final minute that got the Knicks within a point. Grimes finished 2-for-9 from the field.
As for the Knicks’ 4-0 preseason, RJ Barrett said: “We try to win every game. I think definitely today we learned to keep fighting and pulled it off. You can get a lot out of the preseason.’’