Randle scores 34 to lead Knicks over former team
Julius Randle had 34 points and 10 rebounds against his former team and the New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-96 on Monday night for their third straight victory.
Coming off tense finishes against Memphis and Toronto, the Knicks led comfortably for much of the fourth quarter and moved back above .500 at 28-27.
Elfrid Payton scored 20 points and Derrick Rose added 14 off the bench for the Knicks, who had plenty of energy on the second night of back-to-back games.
Dennis Schroder scored 21 points and Markieff Morris had 17 for the Lakers, who fell to 5-7 since LeBron James sprained his ankle March 20, joining fellow All-Star Anthony Davis on the sideline.
Even without them, the Lakers routed Brooklyn 126-101 on Saturday, tying their season high with 19 3-pointers. But in the same city, they found a Knicks team that plays a much different game than the Nets.
Bigger up front and much better defensively, the Knicks outrebounded the Lakers 47-33. Andre Drummond, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds against the Nets, took only three shots and had three points and 10 boards.
The Lakers were at least healthier in this one, getting Kyle Kuzma back after he missed two games with a left calf strain. Wesley Matthews and Marc Gasol also played after sitting out in Brooklyn with injuries.
It didn’t matter and the Lakers fell to 3-3 on their road trip that ends Tuesday in Charlotte.
New York had a 66-62 lead in the third quarter before a 13-2 spurt, with Randle scoring the final five, extended it to 79-64. He had another basket with 5.3 seconds remaining in the period, giving the Knicks an 81-68 lead.
The Lakers ran off 10 straight points midway
through the fourth to get within 92-87, but Payton scored before Randle converted a three-point play to push it back to double figures. He followed with another basket and then a free throw as the lead grew to 100-87.
76ERS 113, MAVERICKS 95 >> Joel Embiid scored 36 points and the Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up a long stretch of mostly road games with a victory over the Dallas Maverickst.
Embiid made all six of his free throws in the first four-plus minutes and was 14 of 15 from the line as the 76ers finished 8-4 while playing 10 of 12 games on the road going into their final regular-season meeting with Brooklyn.
Philadelphia took a halfgame lead atop the Eastern Conference over the Nets, whose game at Minnesota was called off because of the shooting death of a Black man by police in the Minneapolis area.
Luka Doncic scored 32 points but the young Dallas star didn’t have enough help with European sidekick Kristaps Porzingis sitting out the second night of a back-to-back four days after playing in one for the first time in two months.
The Dallas debut of JJ Redick wasn’t much of a boost either. The veteran
shooting guard had been recovering from a right heel injury since being acquired from New Orleans at the trade deadline more than two weeks ago in hopes of boosting the Mavericks at the 3-point line.
Playing against one of his former teams and his coach from four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers in Doc Rivers, Redick entered late in the first quarter and missed two shots from inside the arc before connecting on his first attempt from 3. The 36-year-old in his 15th season scored four points, going 1 of 7 from the field and 1 of 3 from deep.
SPURS 120, MAGIC 97 >> DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points in under three quarters, Dejounte Murray added 17 and the San Antonio Spurs routed the slumping Orlando Magic.
San Antonio was playing a night after winning in Dallas on a last-second shot by DeRozan, and it showed no signs of fatigue in cruising to the easy win.
Prior to tipoff, the teams, coaching staffs and refereeing crew came together and formed a circle at midcourt with their arms interlocked and their heads bowed to show their displeasure over the fatal shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, by police during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Magic coach Steve Clifford stood side by side with their arms interlocked during the anthem. KINGS’ FOX FINED >> Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox was fined $20,000 on Monday for criticizing the officiating following the Kings’ loss to the Utah Jazz.