Knicks Get Nicked But Dethrone Kings For Fourth Win in a Row

The New York Knicks lost both Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson in the second half but a strong start allowed them to overcome.

On the official roster ledger, the New York Knicks endured some major losses. But the Knicks took extraordinarily good care of themselves on the scoreboard, well enough to earn their fourth consecutive victory.

With Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson forced to leave for varied reasons, RJ Barrett carried the load with 27 points, nine rebounds, and six assists to create the headlining effort in a 112-99 triumph over the Sacramento Kings. New York (14-13) owns a winning record for the first time since Nov. 16 and is currently engaged in its longest winning streak of the season.

Three of the four victories have come against teams currently ranked in the top eight of their respective conferences, with Sacramento (14-11) entering the showdown fifth in the West. 

The Knicks immediately got off to another good start, jumping out to a 36-22 lead after the first dozen minutes. Randle had nearly half of that total alone with 17 and seemed well-destined for a third consecutive game with at least 30 points after he added 10 more in the second. 

Alas for one of the Knicks' other strong streaks, Randle was removed from the game by officials for excessive complaints about a lack of a foul call in the latter stages of the third quarter. Brunson, engaged in a strong shooting night at 7-of-14 (18 points) after entering at 32 percent over his first four December games, was diagnosed with a sore right foot by the Knicks after a defensive encounter with Davion Mitchell during the fourth quarter. He was later labeled doubtful to return. 

Barrett was able to handle the metropolitan slack, his own first half mastery (10 points in the second period) perhaps overshadowed by Randle's own breakout. Fresh off 26 in Friday night's win over Charlotte, Barrett bested that by one against the Kings, helping keep a consistent lead after the leading scorers' departures. The 53 points he's scored in the last two games are his best tally in back-to-back games this year and his six helpers set a new season-high.

Sacramento was missing the services of De'Aaron Fox, who was nursing a foot injury. The Kings were led by 20 points from Domantas Sabonis and will do battle with the Knicks again on Mar. 9 in California's capital. 

The Knicks will look to make it five wins in a row on Wednesday night when they face the Chicago Bulls in the first half of a de facto doubleheader (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/ESPN). With both matchups staged for Chicago, the latter half comes on Friday.

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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