Julius Randle, defense help Knicks take down shorthanded Lakers

As the Knicks prepared to take the floor against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night, it presented a test — just not the kind of test they might have anticipated when they first saw the schedule.

There was no LeBron James or Anthony Davis to face the Knicks at the Garden for a team believed to be a title favorite. Instead, with a patchwork lineup, the Lakers presented a challenge for the Knicks to prove that in a season in which anything seems possible, are they prepared to take advantage of it?

Facing a Lakers squad that is a shadow of the team that was assembled to try to repeat as champions, the Knicks instead were trying to maintain their own momentum and belief as they played on the second night of a back-to-back set. And Julius Randle was not about to let that opportunity pass.

Facing the team that drafted him — and the team that let him walk away — Randle poured in 19 of his 34 points in the first half and finished with 10 rebounds as the Knicks captured their third straight win, beating the Lakers, 111-97. The win pushed the Knicks back over .500 at 28-27 with 17 games remaining.

Asked Sunday if he took special interest in facing the Lakers, Randle said, “Always,” and it showed. While James and Davis were in street clothes Randle took over and heard what has now become routine — chants of MVP directed at him from the hometown crowd.

“It’s cool, man,” Randle said. “The love you get in the Garden, the love they’re showing me is amazing. It feels really good. I’m not going to lie — It’s motivating me to keep working harder and bringing it every night.”

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He and Elfrid Payton carried the offense, with Payton scoring 20 points. But it was more than just the points that mattered on this night as it has so many times for the Knicks this season. It was the defense that turned the Lakers into a disjointed mess.

In the third quarter as the Knicks took control of the game they held L.A. to just 16 points, opening up a 13-point advantage, they forced the Lakers into six turnovers and just 6-for-19 shooting. The Lakers made a brief run midway through the fourth, closing the gap to just five with 5:13 left. But Payton got to the rim and scored and then Randle hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 4:26 left, drawing a foul on the play and converting the three-point play to push the lead safely back to 10.

The Knicks growth has been tested in recent weeks. The Knicks had lost five of six games, tumbling from their unlikely spot in fourth place in the Eastern Conference down to eighth. Then they fell behind by 14 points against Memphis on Friday before winning in overtime. They followed that by building an 18-point lead over Toronto on Sunday before surviving for the win.

“There’s ups and downs in the season,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You have to keep going. If you get knocked down you dust yourself off, get up and come back with more fight and grit. That’s what this team has — it has a togetherness and a belief that we can get it done.”

The common denominators were the sort of things that they — and their fan base — could cling to for hope. Their stars, Randle and RJ Barrett, came up big in both games down the stretch when the Knicks needed them desperately. And they displayed the sort of fight that raised echoes of the old, albeit more talented Knicks teams that used to be playoff regulars.

That hasn’t gone unnoticed around the league, even on the nights when they haven’t come through. The Knicks lost to lowly Minnesota two weeks ago but still impressed Timberwolves rookie Anthony Edwards.

“Defense is effort,” Edwards said. “If you give effort, you got great defense. If you watch New York night in and night out, they don’t have great single defenders. Whatever their defensive game plan is, that’s great. They play great defense as a team at all times. I love watching them play defense. I feel they’re the best defensive team in the league. They play hard. They take you out of your stuff and they pressure you.”

That certainly warms the heart of Thibodeau, who was an assistant in New York during the years when the team was in contention. He has made that kind of defense and effort his calling card in every coaching stop in his career.

“I think you earn the respect of your peers by how hard you play, how smart you play and how together you play.” Thibodeau said. “So I think this team has demonstrated that willingness all season long. So I think they are in the respect of their peers and the officials, and everybody that’s involved with the game, and I think that’s important for our organization.”

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.