Knicks’ Julius Randle named Eastern Conference Player of the Week
After leading the Knicks to four wins, extending their winning streak to nine games, and hitting a last-second three on the road, Julius Randle was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Randle averaged 29.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists in the team’s victories over the Boston Celtics (twice), Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat.
The two-time All-Star scored 23 points on Feb. 27 to take down the Celtics and move up to the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference. He then followed up that performance with a 21-8-8 night in a blowout win over the Nets on March 1.
Randle put the Knicks on the league’s radar with a monster 43-point effort against the Heat on March 3, sinking a game-winning three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to stun the Miami crowd and give New York a 122-120 win. The victory extended the team’s winning streak to eight games, as they became the first Knicks team with two separate eight-game winning streaks (they did it back in December) in a season since the 1972-73 Knicks, per SNY’s Ian Begley.
The Knicks and Randle then outlasted the Celtics, 131-129 in double-OT, on March 5 and took the season series from Boston, 3-1. Randle scored 31 points with nine rebounds and four assists in 47 minutes of action to extend the team’s winning streak to nine games. He’s now averaging 25.4 points per game on the season, which would be a career-high.
New York is now 39-27 on the season and one game back of the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks will have a good chance to make it 10 straight wins on Tuesday night when they take on the Charlotte Hornets (20-46).
As for the Western Conference Player of the Week, those honors went to Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker after averaging 36.0 points, 7.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds in the team’s three wins.