Julius Randle commits 8 turnovers in Knicks’ 96-87 loss to Pelicans
NEW ORLEANS — Julius Randle dribbled a bad pass from Josh Hart off his foot into the sidelines.
He barreled into a Pelicans defender for a charging foul while simultaneously throwing the ball into a defender’s hands, and on the following possession, Randle threw a bounce pass out of the high post that was picked off by New Orleans forward Dyson Daniels.
The Knicks All-Star threw a pass from three-quarters court that was intercepted by C.J. McCollum which led to McCollum throwing a half-court alley-oop to a streaking Zion Williamson.
Randle had a turnover rescinded at the end of the first quarter and still finished with five at the half.
He finished with eight on the night. His career high is nine.
The Knicks wanted to right their turnover wrongs after giving the ball away 16 times in the final three quarters of Friday’s victory in Atlanta over the Hawks.
In the second game of a road back-to-back, those turnover woes compounded — one bad decision after another — in a 96-87 loss at the Smoothie King Center on Saturday.
The Knicks (1-2) have lost two of their first three games and have four more in a row against playoff-level competition — including a second consecutive back-to-back against the Cleveland Cavaliers looming after Saturday’s loss in The Big Easy.
If they can’t take care of the ball, Donovan Mitchell and a young and fun Cavaliers team will run the Knicks right out of the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Tuesday.
The Pelicans jumped out to an early 14-4 lead, scoring nine points off the five turnovers the Knicks gave away in the first quarter. The lead ballooned to 19 when the Pelicans scored off another Knicks turnover that led to Williamson scoring on a switch-hand layup in transition, then flexing on the baseline crowd after the whistle blew for the and-one.
The Pelicans’ three-headed attack of Williamson (24 points), Brandon Ingram (26) and CJ McCollum (12) combined for 62 points, including 34 in the first half.
Meanwhile, Randle put forth another inefficient scoring night after declaring a more efficient season as his goal during training camp. He finished with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and missed all five of his attempts from downtown. Randle, and point guard Jalen Brunson (14 points) combined for 24 points on 8-of-29 shooting from the field two games after they shot 11 of 43 in the season-opener against the Boston Celtics.
The Knicks only mustered 37 points as a team through the opening two periods. It’s nine points shy of the fewest points scored in any half in franchise history. They turned the ball over 10 times by halftime — 11 if you count the give-away rescinded from Randle after the first quarter.
The rest of the team followed suit.
Immanuel Quickley threw a bad pass behind Isaiah Hartenstein out of bounds. Pelicans guard Matt Ryan intercepted Donte DiVincenzo’s bad pass in the first half, too.
The Knicks ranked seventh in turnovers per game just two games in but plummeted down the rankings after Saturday’s effort. They finished with 18 giveaways on the night and shot 37% from the field and 19% from 3 as a team.
The Knicks go as Randle goes, and on Saturday they stumbled down Bourbon Street.
Randle drove baseline against defender Herb Jones, then attempted to spin back midcourt but tripped over his own feet and fell out of bounds. He was called for traveling.
Later in the quarter, he had a head of steam in transition after a Quentin Grimes steal and had his layup rejected at the rim by Jones. And then he sealed Daniels on the low block before taking three steps after a pump fake. An automatic whistle for traveling. His seventh turnover of the night.
And with 2.3 seconds left in the third quarter, Hart attempted a one-handed Hail Mary pass that sailed out of bounds under the opposite rim.
DiVincenzo turned the ball over again in the fourth quarter, coughing the ball up off the dribble in a sequence that led to a Pelicans transition bucket that put them up 85-69 with 8:30 to go in the fourth quarter.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau immediately called a timeout. By the four-and-a-half-minute mark of the final period, his team — attempting to come back from down double digits — had only mustered seven points.
Thibodeau called another timeout after Ingram’s fading baseline 2 put the Pelicans back up 19.
Meanwhile Thibodeau sat silent in the center of the Knicks’ huddle, one hand on his chin, the other holding an empty clipboard as he sent Brunson and Mitchell Robinson to the bench for Miles McBride and Jericho Sims in garbage time.
Thibodeau left Randle in the game for one more turnover — a half-spin down the lane gone awry after he lost control of the ball.
Thibodeau has been outspoken about his team’s foundation. It includes rebounding, moving the ball, shooting 3s and getting to the foul line.
It also includes taking care of the ball — and it’s clear there’s a crack in the foundation after Saturday’s loss to the Pelicans.
