KNICKS ALL EVEN!

Randle leads way over Pacers to get team back to .500:

Julius Randle showed why he was an All-Star sJulius Randle showed why he was an All-Star selection over Domantas Sabonis.

In a head-to-head physical battle between the two powerful forwards, Randle won the box score and the game, 110-107, pushing the Knicks (17-17) to .500 for the first time since January.

Randle finished with 28 points and 10 boards in 42 minutes, fighting Sabonis on the block and in the paint.

Randle acknowledged he was motivated by the matchup.

“Sometimes there are just individual matchups that you take – not personal or nothing, like you don’t like the other guy, just personal from a competitive standpoint,” Randle said. “So it was that.”

His biggest bucket was off a drive on Sabonis, when Randle got the step and was fouled by the Pacers forward.

Randle then hit both free throws to give the Knicks a five-point advantage with 30 seconds left.

“It’s physical (going against Sabonis). But I like contact so it really don’t bother me honestly, man,” Randle said. “I love that type of stuff and the refs for the most part did a good job of letting it go. So it was fun for me.”

But Randle was also subbed out for defensive purposes on the game’s most important possession in the final seconds. With the Pacers trailing 2, Sabonis’ pass was deflected by Derrick Rose and scooped up by Frank Ntilikina with 4.6 seconds left. The play saved RJ Barrett – who missed two free throws on the previous possession – from blowing the victory.

Ntilikina was fouled after Rose’s steal and hit both free throws to seal the victory.

“It looked like Sabonis was being shaky with the ball. I saw the guard was at the top, he didn’t know what he wanted to do,” said Rose, who finished with a game-high five steals. “I saw the ball was going back and I just tried to go for it. It was just perfect timing, and Frank was able to get the ball.”

The Pacers (15-17) and Knicks are among seven teams in the East who entered Saturday separated by one game or fewer, stacked between the fourth and 10th spots. The victory lifted New York to a tie for fourth with the Raptors. Still, it’s too early to look at the standings.

“It’s a long season and that’s what we have to understand that every game is deeply important. One game doesn’t take on more meeting than another. They all count the same,” Thibodeau said. “And so if we want to fight for things we say we want to fight for, there’s a price to pay for that, and we have to do that.”

Sabonis scored just 15 points in 36 minutes with five turnovers. He was left off the All-Star team behind Randle, but was announced as an injury replacement Friday for injured Kevin Durant.

So they’re both All-Stars, but only Randle played like one Saturday.

A first-quarter ankle injury to Taj Gibson, who played only four minutes, complicated the rotation and forced Nerlens Noel into heavy action. Noel finished with a season-high 41 minutes, and had enough energy for a steal and clutch free throws with 1:16 remaining to give New York a 3-point edge. Thibodeau resisted playing small and clearly needs another center since Mitchell Robinson is out with a broken hand.

But the coach deferred to the front office. “I know (team president Leon and top executive William Wesley and GM Scott Perry) will look into players that are available,” Thibodeau said. “That’s their area. I’m just focused on the guys we have. We’ll figure out a way.”

Point guard Elfrid Payton missed his second straight game with a strained hamstring, giving Rose the starting spot and Ntilikina another shot at the rotation.

Rose responded with 17 points and 11 assists in 38 minutes.

The start was poor for the Knicks, who forced Thibodeau to call a timeout after just two minutes and an 8-0 deficit. The Knicks trailed by as many as 16 in the second quarter but ended with a flurry, as Rose’s 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave them their first lead of the game.

“We didn’t start the game well and it was funky and we had to work our way through it,” Thibodeau said. “It’s a long game, but the most important thing was just finding a way to win in the end.”

Payton missed a month last season with the same injury and Thibodeau wouldn’t give a recovery timetable, labeling it “day-to-day.” The coach didn’t directly answer a question about the seriousness of the injury.

“Injuries are part of the game, it’s unfortunate,” the coach said. “You’ve got to trust your medical people, trust the player. When he says he’s ready to go, he’ll go. I have great confidence in him, I trust him. You want to be smart.”

The Pacers, and Sabonis, in particular, had issues with the officiating all night. It reached boiling in the third quarter when Indiana coach Nate Bjorkgren ran across the court to angrily confront a referee over a non-call.

Bjorkgren received a technical and was lucky he avoided ejection.