Hoops Habit
Fansided

New York Knicks: 3 reasons they’ll win a playoff series

By Luke Duffy

DALLAS, TEXAS - APRIL 16: Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks celebrates with RJ Barrett #9 of the New York Knicks as the Knicks take on the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter at American Airlines Center on April 16, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TEXAS - APRIL 16: Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks celebrates with RJ Barrett #9 of the New York Knicks as the Knicks take on the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter at American Airlines Center on April 16, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
New York Knicks
Knicks (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) /

Reason No. 3 the Knicks could win a playoff series: Julius Randle

Let’s not overcomplicate things here, Randle has been one of the 10 best players in the NBA over the course of the regular season. He has had a career year and has driven this organization back to being a competitive team once again. Randle has done this while averaging 24 points, 5.9 assists and 10.3 rebounds (all career highs).

Defensively he matches up well with most bigs in the league because of his strength, and offensively he is underrated in his ability to get his, but also not have every possession be about him. Randle is not selfish on that end. He is a willing passer out of the post and sets screens and moves without the ball diligently.

Is he better than Joel Embiid or Kevin Durant or Giannis Antetokounmpo? No, over a seven-game series, and assuming those superstars are healthy, you’re taking any of those guys. Is he better than Trae Young of the Hawks, however? That’s a tougher question to answer, and although the Hawks have been great offensively for a while now and figured some things out, Randle would give them real problems.

The postseason comes down to who has the best player or set of star players in a series, and that will ultimately be the undoing of the Knicks the longer they are in contention. But we’ve seen from the play of Randle so far this year that not only can he go on weeks-long stretches of dominating, that he can do it against elite opponents as well.

The matchup in the first round would have to go their way, and a date with the Hawks would be favorable. So too would a series against the Boston Celtics, who have lost Jaylen Brown to injury and aren’t the most physically dominant team out there (with apologies to Marcus Smart). Randle would do series damage against these opponents, but he’s so good that he could steal a game all by himself against pretty much anybody in the East. That’s a great place to start.

Home/New York Knicks