BANG BANG!! Julius Randle Wins It with Heart-Attack 3!!! NY 122 Miami 120

March 4, 2023 LouV 2022-23 0

In a wild, broken play with the Knicks down a point and the clock winding down to zero, Julius Randle scrambled to save an errant pass, had the ball poked away, lost and regained his dribble, and took a 3 from the corner with Miami defenders draped all over him — and “BANG!! — BANG!!” — hit it to give NY a 122-120 lead with .7 seconds left ! Mike Breen repeating his “BANG!” twice on the broadcast he was so caught up in the emotion of the incredibleness of the shot. (Full final play at bottom of article.)

The clock was rewound to 1.1 seconds left and Miami had a chance to tie or win it — but Mitchell Robinson saved the NY win by intercepting a pass intended for Bam Adebayo inside.

A miraculous Knick win — their 8th in a row!

On a Friday night in Miami.

“It was a Huge shot,” said coach Tom Thibodeau afterwards. “Tough shot. Put it in — tip your hat.”

Thibs continued:

  • “I thought we played really well in the 1st half, and I thought in the 2nd half we were fortunate. When we go to Boston (for their next game) we’ll have to play a lot better than we played tonite.”

Thibodeau elaborated:

  • “I didn’t like our defense in the 2nd half at all. The rebounding wasn’t good — there’s a lot of things we need to do better.
  • But I thought our bench gave us a big lift.
  • Hart was unbelievable again, just making tough plays.
  • I thought Jalen made a number of big shots in the 4th quarter when the game was hanging in the balance, he made big shot after big shot.
  • Julius hit the monster shot; Jalen hit a number of big shots.
  • I thought RJ gave us a good all-around game as well.
  • But the big concern is we have to play a lot better defensively.”

NY wins their 8th in a row and improves to 38-27 — only a game behind Cleveland for 4th place in the Eastern Conference. Miami falls to 33-31 in 7th place and now 4.5 behind NY.

1. Randle On FIRE

Randle’s game-winner was the coup de grace of a magnificent performance where he made big shot after big shot all night long — 43 points on 16-25 shooting (8-15 from 3; 3-4 in free throws) with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and a block.

He made HUGE shots down the stretch — not only the final game-winner. With 1 minute left and a tie game he put the Knicks up 3 with a mid-range jumper and one.

2. Knicks had 17-Point Lead Early

The Knicks thoroughly outplayed Miami early, and took a 17-point lead in the 2nd quarter — defending, passing, hitting their 3. Julius Randle in particular had his 3-ball going.

Miami pulled back to within single digits midway thru the 2nd, but RJ Barrett stepped up with 3 consecutive buckets to push the Knick lead back to 15 at NY 57 Miami 42.

Josh Hart was also doing his thing with heart and hustle — he would finish the game with 5 points but 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a +15.

3. Miami Clawed Back — with D & Lotsa Free Throws

But Miami tightened their D and started to get right back in the game. Bam Adebayo made the first 3 buckets of the 3rd quarter to slice a 15-point Knick halftime lead to 9 just like that.

Jimmy Butler continued to power inside and kept getting the foul calls — he ended up going 18-20 from the free throw line on the night, and 7-15 from the floor for 33 points.

Adebayo scored 18 points on 7-16 shooting — short jumpers in the lane mainly. And Tyler Herro was hitting from everywhere– 33 points on 11-18 shooting (5-8 from 3).

4. Brunson Sprains Ankle

As Miami got back to within 6 points in the 3rd — things took a turn for even worse for NY when Jalen Brunson sprained his ankle defending a Jimmy Butler-Bam Adebayo drive. Brunson went straight to the lockeroom with 3:33 left in the 3rd — and it looked like the Knicks would need to defend their 6-point lead the rest of the way without him.

5. Brunson Returns for Frenetic Finish

Miami quickly pulled to within 3 points soon after Brunson left, but NY fought back — with big buckets by Randle, Immanuel Quickley, and Isaiah Hartenstein — to push the lead back to 96-88 at the end of 3.

But Brunson had his ankle taped up and returned 2 minutes into the 4th — and led the Knicks charge– making Big shot after Big shot late, as usual.

Immanuel Quickley was again a force with 21 points off the bench.

6. Knicks SCREWED On Bad Ref Call with 46 Seconds Left

NY had a 119-116 lead when with 46 seconds left Tyler Herro ran into Bam Adebayo setting a pick at top of key right side — but the ref called Immanuel Quickley on the foul. Quickley had gotten his hand in barely on Herro but Herro went to the floor because he collided with Adebayo. NY challenged the call but the refs said Quickley’s hand and Herro running into Bam happened at the exact same time so they couldn’t overrule the ruling on the court.

It was a Huge play because instead of NY ball and 46 seconds left and a 3-pt lead — Herro was to the line where he made 2 free throws to make it a 1-pt game.

7. Ball Don’t Lie

The bad call was HUGE as the game then ended on the final frenetic play — the Knicks with no timeouts left — and Randle bringing it up, losing the ball to Herro, who went in for a layup to give Miami the lead — and then the final frenetic finish for NY with Randle making the 3.

Ball Don’t Lie.

The Full Final Play:

Etcetera

Ces (@GlamourKnicks) was first to pick it up on timeline, but Randle accidentally bowled over Thibs while celebrating right after the shot: “Somebody check on Thibs cuz Julius ran him over like a lawnmower.”

KnicksMuze caught it on tape:

Zach Braziller of the NY Post reported that:

“In locker room, Thibodeau joking that only one player, Quickley, helped him up.”

Meanwhile, this Miami fan spoke for all Miami fans:

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401469104

 

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