Maybe a week from now when the fans begin to trickle back into Madison Square Garden for the first time the sort of start the team got off to Monday night would be enough to drive the crowd into a frenzy and start off an end-to-end blowout for the home team.
But in a still-empty arena the Knicks built an early 14-point lead only to see it wiped out and the team facing a seven-point deficit in the third quarter. But just as at the start, the Knicks turned to Julius Randle to bail them out.
After scoring 17 points in the first quarter, Randle exploded again after the Knicks fell behind and finished with 44 points to lead the Knicks to a 123-112 win over the Hawks.