HEAVY HEARTS
Knicks top Heat on emotional day at Garden:
KNICKS 124 HEAT 121
Five days prior, Julius Randle learned of his grandmother’s death. He was still in Staples Center following a game against the Lakers when relayed the news, and Randle — who had his grandmother, Annie Page, accompany him on draft night — was clearly distraught.
Randle left the team to be with family, and returned triumphantly Sunday in a thrilling comeback victory over the Heat, 124-121. Randle was the hero with 26 points in 33 minutes, including nine points in the final four minutes. Then he tried to explain the emotional roller coaster of his last few days.
“It’s extremely tough.
Lot of highs, a lot of lows. My grandmother left an incredible legacy and mark on my life and my family,” Randle said. “It’s been tough. It’ll still be tough. But tonight was special. I really felt her out there the whole time.”
The Knicks (11-29) weren’t supposed to win this game, not without injured Marcus Morris (strained neck) and against the mighty Heat (27-12) while riding a five-game losing streak. It especially looked bleak when the Knicks trailed by 10 heading into the fourth quarter.
But Randle dominated down the stretch and the Knicks pulled off the improbable. Miami’s Jimmy Butler thrice had opportunities to tie the score in the final 21 seconds but missed a free throw, air-balled a lay-up and committed a turnover.
Butler wasn’t buying that losing to the Knicks will be a valuable learning experience.
“I don’t like to lose, we don’t like to lose,” he said. “This doesn’t benefit us.”
It’s been a difficult season for the Knicks on and off the court. The passing of Randle’s grandmother — which the Knicks memorialized with a moment of silence before the game — represented the third death in a players’ family this season, with Dennis Smith Jr. losing his stepmom unexpectedly and Reggie Bullock’s sister being murdered.
The Knicks’ policy is to allow players an indefinite amount of time to grieve. That’s important because a player like Kyrie Irving, for instance, said he never fully processed the death of his grandfather last season and he carried that baggage while with the Celtics. Randle was unsure about returning but knew he felt comfortable with teammates.
“I didn’t (know it was time). I didn’t,” he said. “But I had an amazing mom and wife who have been extremely strong throughout the whole process.
“I didn’t feel ready, but being around these guys is like family to me. It was great.”
After the final score was announced — which was delayed because Miami’s Bam Adebayo connected on a potential tying 3-pointer that came after the buzzer but had to be reviewed — Randle was joined on the court by his 3-year-old son. All the Knicks then huddled together.
It was the most impressive victory of the season and an emotional night.
“It’s tough to lose somebody so important to you,” Randle said. “We had a couple incidents, a couple things have happened to us as a group. It affects you. It affects all of us. I cried when these dudes lost their family members. It’s tough. I felt the same compassion from them as I did losing my grandmother. It’s tough. Got to keep going.”