Piece of cake.
The Knicks eased into their six-game road trip by obliterating the worst team on the schedule, the sad-sack Houston Rockets, enjoying a rare opportunity to rest star Julius Randle for the entire fourth quarter of a 122-97 victory.
It would’ve been New York’s perfect night except for a worrisome injury to Nerlens Noel, who sprained his left ankle midway through the third quarter and didn’t return. The Knicks are already shorthanded at center with Mitchell Robinson out indefinitely with a broken foot. They play again Monday in Memphis, and then hit the Western Conference gauntlet against the Nuggets, Suns, Lakers and Clippers.
If Noel is out, they’ll only have Taj Gibson and Norvel Pelle to fill Tom Thibodeau’s rim-protecting spot.
Against the pitiful Rockets, that didn’t matter. Randle, who finished with 31 points in 30 minutes, dominated and Houston offered little resistance to the his charge. The All-Star dropped 15 points in the third quarter, when the Knicks pulled away to generate extended garbage time. Houston didn’t bother sending a double-team to slow the Randle train.
With the win, the Knicks (36-28) secured a .500 record for the first time since 2013. They also swept the Rockets in their season series for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign. This rejuvenation season keeps getting more impressive.
They’ve have already clinched a spot in at least the play-in tournament, which is no great accomplishment except the franchise hasn’t qualified for the postseason in eight years. Technically, the play-in tournament isn’t a playoff berth. But they’re in a good position to land in the top-6 to guarantee New York’s first playoff game since Carmelo Anthony’s squad failed in the second round against the Pacers.
Anthony, now a Trail Blazer, coincidentally helped the Knicks on Sunday by scoring 13 points in a victory over the Celtics, who are now seventh in the East and 2 ½ games behind fourth-seeded New York.
The Rockets, of course, are a mess. A borderline title contender for the last six years, they completely botched trading their two All-Stars, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, and are now bereft of talent with the NBA’s worst record.
John Wall, who was acquired for Westbrook, is likely out for the season with a hamstring injury. He’s been a disappointment and a bad fit on a mega contract. The best player acquired for Harden — Victor Oladipo — was flipped to the Heat at the trade deadline for peanuts.
Houston is left with a bad rebuilding roster while propping up Cavaliers castaway Kevin Porter Jr. as the savior. They were no match for Knicks.
It’s a tough break for rookie head coach Stephen Silas, who was a Knicks ballboy in the early 1990s, when his father, Paul Silas, was an assistant under Stu Jackson and Pat Riley. Stephen Silas said Thibodeau’s Knicks are reminiscent of the teams he observed from the MSG basket stanchion.
“They will try to grind you down, almost like they used to be when I was a ballboy for the Knicks with Patrick (Ewing) and Oak (Charles Oakley) and Mark (Jackson),” Silas said. “They are a tough team.”
