Julius Randle bricked a wide open layup to end the Knicks’ winning streak

The New York Knicks have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA in this month. The Knicks were 10-13 overall after falling at home to the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 3, but then ran off seven straight wins to rise all the way to No. 6 in the Eastern Conference standings. There are so many reasons why the Knicks have been playing better ball lately — the defense is improved, R.J. Barrett is scoring more consistently and efficiently, and Quentin Grimes has provided a stout point of attack defender next to Jalen Brunson in the backcourt — but a bounce-back season from Julius Randle is as big of a reason as any.

Randle shockingly turned in an All-NBA season two years ago as he pushed to the Knicks to the No. 4 seed in the East playoffs. Then Trae Young and the Hawks embarrassed New York, and both Randle and the Knicks fell apart the next season, in 2021-2022. Now Randle is again playing like an All-Star and powering the Knicks back into playoff position, but a missed shot at the end of Wednesday’s game against the Toronto Raptors is going to haunt him for a little bit.

The Raptors beat the Knicks, 113-106, at Madison Square Garden to break New York’s winning streak. The Knicks battled back in the fourth quarter to take the lead with just over two minutes left, but this missed layup by Randle sealed the loss. Watch it here:

How the heck did he miss this? Randle seemed to have the ball at the rim with no one trying to block him, but he still bricked it.

Excuse the grainy screenshot here, but c’mon:

Randle was otherwise awesome all night, finishing with 30 points, 13 rebounds, and four assists on 13-of-17 shooting.

The Knicks certainly didn’t lose just because of this miss, but scoring on this easy opportunity would have kept them in the game. The Raptors, who have been sinking in Dec., got a huge performance from Pascal Siakam, who put up 52 points on 17-of-25 shooting. Siakam put up legitimately one of the best games the NBA has seen all season, and he got his team the win. Watch Siakam’s highlights from the night here:

The Knicks sure seem like the sixth best team in the East this year, but if the standings get bunched up late, they will be thinking about this game and this miss by Randle.