TORONTO — Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson didn’t fare well in the initial returns of NBA All-Star fan voting earlier this week, but they continued making their respective cases for inclusion Friday night north of the border.
On the one year anniversary of his infamous thumbs-down gesture and “shut the f- -k up” explanation directed at booing Garden fans last season, Randle pumped in 32 points and the Knicks held on in the fourth quarter for their fourth straight win following a five-game losing skid, 112-108, over the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. It was also the Knicks’ first road win over the Raptors since Nov. 10, 2015, breaking a streak of 11 consecutive losses (10 in Toronto, one in Tampa, Fla., during the pandemic).
Brunson contributed 26 points and eight assists, Quentin Grimes added 16 points and Mitchell Robinson finished with a double-double of 10 points and a game-high 18 rebounds.
The Knicks boosted a three-point lead entering the fourth quarter to 16 with 4:01 remaining before Toronto slashed it to two with under a minute to play. But unlike their giveaway loss in Dallas on Dec. 27, the Knicks closed this one out.
A 3-pointer by Gary Trent Jr. drew the Raptors within two with 42 seconds to go, but Brunson converted a three-point play at the other end and then sank one of two free throws for a four-point game with 13.0 on the clock.
Neither Randle nor Brunson was listed among the top 10 at their positions — frontcourt or backcourt, that is — among Eastern Conference players in All-Star voting released Thursday. But coach Tom Thibodeau hopes the league’s coaches and players will appreciate the effect Randle and Brunson — as well as the injured RJ Barrett — have had on the Knicks’ record (22-18) this season, and that at least one of them will be named as a reserve to the 12-man squad.
“Hopefully our players will get some consideration — certainly Julius, Jalen and RJ — and I think what it comes down to … is what’s the impact been on winning?” Thibodeau said before the game. “I think that’s usually the tiebreaker for most coaches.”
Randle continued his month-long push with five of his six 3-pointers and 19 of his points in the first quarter. He is averaging 29.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game over his past 16 appearances since Dec. 7.
“The way he’s playing is just unheard of,” Brunson said. “He’s playing really well. He’s playing with confidence and he’s having fun. So it’s really awesome to see how he’s been able to kind of bounce back [from last season].
“I think he still has a lot more to prove, not just to everyone else, but to himself because he has a whole ’nother level he can unleash.”
After shredding the Knicks for a career-high 52 points in a Raptors win at the Garden on Dec. 21, Pascal Siakam finished with 18 points and 4-for-14 shooting from the field. Fred VanVleet scored 28 and Trent had 27 for the Raptors, who have lost 14 of their past 19 to fall to 16-23 overall.
“He’s a load to deal with. He’s having a monster season, so I think guys like him, you don’t guard him individually,” Thibodeau said of Siakam before the game. “You have to guard him with the team. Puts a lot of pressure on you.”
The Raptors should have approached Randle that way in the early going, but he buried five 3-pointers in the opening five minutes and netted 19 of the Knicks’ first 23 points as they grabbed a 30-26 lead through one quarter. The Knicks tweeted that Randle tied Quentin Richardson’s franchise record with six 3-pointers in the opening period, but one later was changed to a 2-point bucket, leaving Randle one shy of the mark.
Randle played the entire quarter and remained on the floor for the first 3:58 of the second, as the Knicks opened the quarter on an 11-2 run and expanded their lead to as many as 17. Randle upped his scoring output to 22 by halftime, and Grimes and Brunson netted 10 apiece through two quarters for a 57-47 advantage at intermission.
Toronto slashed that cushion to one on VanVleet’s banked-in triple in the final minute of the third. Randle had drained his sixth trey of the night and Brunson also connected from beyond the arc earlier in the quarter as the Knicks carried an 81-78 lead into the final period.