Knicks All-Star Julius Randle Continues 'Fun', Prepares For Game 3 vs. Cavs

With the New York Knicks back in Manhattan, Julius Randle was in a relatively relaxed mood with the Cleveland Cavaliers' first visit looming.

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As the New York Knicks' All-Star and arguable top option, Julius Randle faces challenges from the NBA's defensive finest on a nightly basis. Those defenders, however, are no match for his own flesh and blood.

Randle invoked his sons Kyden and Jayce in his latest address of the hard foul he drew at the hands of Jarrett Allen in the final stages of the Knicks' 107-90 postseason defeat on Tuesday night. While Randle was understandably somber in the immediate aftermath, he kept a smile on his face when speaking after the Knicks prepared for Game 3 of the best-of-seven set, which will tip off on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, MSG/ABC).

"I’m built for these kind of battles,” a smiling Randle said when asked if he was feeling any aftershocks of Allen's foul, per Steve Popper of Newsday. “That’s why you put so much time in the weight room. I put a lot into my body for recovery and stuff like that. My kids beat me up worse.”

Randle's relatively breezy demeanor was a stark contrast to Tuesday's postgame, where the Knicks were reeling from a game that was never close in the second half. The lone drama came when Randle turned an Isaiah Hartenstein steal into a fastbreak that served as a dab of scoreboard cosmetics with over two minutes remaining. Allen ran Randle down and made a perhaps overzealous attempt to preserve a 23-point lead, charged with a flagrant one-foul after knocking the Knicks' leading scorer to the Rocket Mortage FieldHouse hardwood. 

Considering Randle was in just his second game back from an ankle injury that cost him the final five games of the regular season, it was a tense period for anyone invested in the Knicks' side of things. Randle himself indirectly hinted that Allen might succeed Trae Young as playoff enemy No. 1 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. 

But a few days' peace, plus a return home to New York, appeared to put Randle at ease. In a report from Zach Braziller of the New York Post, Randle referred to the playoffs as a "second season" that has put a new brand of energy in his step.

“I’m just having fun, man, this is a lot of fun. I can’t lie,” Randle said, per The Post. "This is what you work so hard for. For me it goes back to our team, all the work that we’ve put in, in the summer, individuals. That’s what this is about. So I’m excited.”

Randle's one of several Knicks who has been on the floor for peak postseason volume at MSG. Though the Knicks fell to Atlanta in five games, their lone win in that 2021 series came in Manhattan, a 101-92 victory that served as the franchise's first playoff win in eight years and sent the Knicks faithful into hysterics. Randle is one of four rotational Knicks left on the team from that win along with RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Obi Toppin (in addition to the rostered yet exiled Derrick Rose). 

The first postseason home game is another landmark for Randle, who continues to work through a resurgent season after the disappointing follow-up to his first All-Star appearance led to a relative metropolitan upheaval, one that could build a foundation for both present and future success if the Knicks play their cards right.

“It’s a lot of fun for me,” Randle said, per Newsday. “(I'm) probably having the most fun that I’ve had in my nine-year career in the league (with) just the game-to-game adjustments, the gamesmanship, the intensity, all that different type of stuff. It’s fun for me because it’s a test on my mental, which I feel great, on our team as well. I don’t know. I just enjoy it. I enjoy the challenge. I look forward to it. I’m excited.”

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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