NEW YORK — It was a rerun of last season’s Big-2 Broadway Show.
RJ Barrett and Julius Randle combined for 62 points, rediscovering their juice amid largely disappointing seasons, as the Knicks surged in the fourth quarter Tuesday to beat the Pacers, 104-94.
Barrett dropped 19 of his 32 points in the first quarter, and attacked aggressively to the delight of a Madison Square Garden crowd that thrice chanted his name. Randle, who had missed the two previous games after testing positive for COVID-19, emerged from protocols with a doozy of a performance — 30 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes.
“To have Julius was big time,” Barrett said.
Randle took control in the fourth quarter, when the Knicks’ defense applied clamps to the short-handed Pacers and snapped a two-game losing streak.
The Knicks (18-20), who split their four-game season series with the Pacers, are finally released from their COVID-19 hell, clearing all their players from protocols by tipoff Tuesday. Randle returned to the starting lineup. Mitchell Robinson came off the bench. New York was as close to full strength as it had been for weeks.
Still, without Derrick Rose and Kemba Walker due to injuries, coach Tom Thibodeau started Alec Burks at point guard. It was a change from the previous two contests — both blowout defeats — when rookie Miles McBride was in the lineup.
McBride logged just three minutes Tuesday and was scoreless. Burks was an initiator with 14 points in 36 minutes.
The Pacers, meanwhile, were still reeling from their COVID-19 infections. The formidable frontcourt of Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner were in the lineup, combining for just 20 points. But eight others — including guards Chris Duarte and Malcolm Brogdon — were in COVID-19 protocols.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle, as a result, started undrafted diminutive 28-year-old guard Keifer Sykes, who more than doubled his career point total in the first half by scoring 16 of his 20 points. He played professionally on four continents, hit a $1 million game-winner in The Basketball Tournament in Ohio this summer, and couldn’t latch onto an NBA team through three previous Summer Leagues.
But he was a handful for the Knicks, who eventually bottled up Sykes in the fourth quarter.
Sykes’ backcourt mate was Duane Washington Jr., who was also undrafted and making his seventh career NBA appearance. Lance Stephenson, who nine days prior played at MSG as a member of the Hawks, logged 17 minutes as the Pacers’ 10-day signing, scoring five points.
