Sunday night’s contest with the Houston Rockets was probably the easiest contest remaining on the Knicks’ schedule. They have three home games to close the season, but the opponents — Spurs, Hornets, Celtics — are no pushovers. The Knicks absolutely needed to take care of business in Houston.
tl;dr They did.
New York led by 10 after one, pushed the pedal to the metal in the third, and cruised to a 122-97 victory. Julius Randle didn’t even have to play in the fourth quarter! The Knicks’ star forward put in more than enough work in three frames, dropping a tidy 31 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.