PHOENIX — When the New York Knicks lost in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Julius Randle calmly sat for a postgame interview and talked about a need for the team to show fight. He said they just needed a win to right what has seemed like a sinking ship.
But the fight he was talking about was effort and a defensive mindset, not what he put on display Friday night in an ill-timed tantrum. Randle started a scuffle with Phoenix’s Cam Johnson and was ejected, putting on display how much the Knicks still need him.
They subsequently took a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Johnson wound up banking in a three-pointer from far beyond the arc -- about 30 feet -- at the buzzer as the Suns handed the Knicks a heartbreaking 115-114 loss.
