Getty CLEVELAND, OHIO - Julius Randle #30 of the New York Knicks is fouled by Jarrett Allen #31 of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Fortunately, New York Knicks two-time All-Star forward Julius Randle survived the nasty fall off Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen’s flagrant foul late in Game 2 without an injury.
But it was an ordinary foul in Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s eyes.
“There was nothing dirty about the play,” Bickerstaff said. “It wasn’t a flagrant foul. He contested a shot at the rim. It’s that simple.”
Allen was overhead defending himself on the TNT broadcast, saying it was just a hustle play.
Jarrett Allen after his hard foul on Julius Randle:
“Thats a hustle play, that’s a basketball play”
Dude.
“I mean, it was a contested dunk, like if you’re going to get a steal,” Bickerstaff said. “The Knicks] kept playing hard. They kept running through passing lanes, so why would one team play hard and the other one not?”
Randle saw it otherwise.
“I thought it was a little unnecessary,” Randle said during his postgame interview. “When you understand playoff basketball, you don’t give up on plays, and I respect that. I’m somebody who plays hard. I respect that, but typically when you make those kinds of plays, you run across their body, not through them. But it’s fine. It’s irrelevant [now]. We go back to the Garden, and we’ll see them there.”
The incident occurred with 2:22 left as Randle went for a breakaway slam which a trailing Allen attempted to block. The game’s outcome had already been long settled, with the Cavaliers up by 21 at that point. They were just waiting for the final score.
Julius Randle Asks to Stay to Get Into Rhythm
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau caught a lot of heat for jeopardizing his star players’ health in a blowout game. But it was Randle who requested to stay in the game to catch rhythm amid his poor shooting in the series after coming off a 17-day rest from an ankle injury.
“Actually, we’re going to sub Julius out, but he wanted to stay more for a couple of possessions just to find a rhythm,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said during his postgame interview.
Randle confirmed Thibodeau’s statement.
“Yeah, at that point, I was just trying to get my legs under me, get a little rhythm, but I’ll be fine,” Randle said during his postgame interview.
Randle is shooting only 37.5% through the series’ first two games. In Game 1, he shot 7-for-20. In Game 2, he went 8-for-20.
Julius Randle Urged to Attack More
Almost half of Randle’s shot diet in this year’s playoffs comes from the 3-point territory. He’s hitting 3 out of 8.5 3s per game, consistent with his regular season numbers.
What’s down for Randle is his free throw rate. His 3.5 free throw attempts in a physical and tightly-called series are only half his regular season average.
Former NBA Coach of the Year Avery Johnson urged Randle to attack the defense of Evan Mobley and Allen more than settling for outside shots.
“You gotta remember with Julius Randle, he’s missed some time with that ankle injury so that there was some rust there,” Johnson told CBS Sports HQ’s Hakem Dermish after Game 1. “He was what? 3-for-10 from the 3-point line. I wish maybe four of those [misses], he would have just pumped fake it and drove to the basket because he’s not Steph Curry.”