NEW YORK — The Knicks escaped MSG with an even series.
They escaped because Julius Randle again struggled and Trae Young again was brilliant. They escaped because the Hawks managed just one point in the final five minutes. They escaped because of big shots from Reggie Bullock and Derrick Rose, who paced the home team to a scrappy 101-92 victory in front of another raucous MSG crowd.
It represented the Knicks’ first playoff win in eight years, and they’ll play Game 3 in Atlanta on Friday.
Young absorbed the profane and insulting chants while dropping 30 points, but the game turned early in the fourth quarter when coach Nate McMillan kept his point guard on the bench for an extended stretch and the Knicks took a double-digit lead.
Young returned to push a tie at 91 with about five minutes left, but then the Hawks went cold. Rose hit the go-ahead runner with 4:45 left, and the Knicks never trailed again.
Bullock hit two critical treys in the final six-plus minutes, picking up the slack of another dud from Randle.
Aside from a strong third quarter, Randle was largely a non-factor while missing 11 of his 16 shots and scoring 15 points.
He was awarded his M.I.P. trophy before the game and played like it stood for Most Invisible Player.
The All-Star was coming off a dud in Game 1, a performance he acknowledged was affected by the enormity of the moment. It was Randle’s first playoff game and the first of this season in front a big Garden crowd, leaving the All-Star anxious.
“It was hard (to slow down), man,” Randle said. “Your adrenaline is going so crazy, by the time the second half came I was done. My energy was crashed.”
Rose, a veteran of 10 playoff series, understood Randle’s anxiety.
“That was his first playoff game, this is his first series. So right now he’s just got to be patient,” Rose said. “I remember going through that. Everybody has it at different stages of their career. I got mine out of the way the first year, playing against the Celtics and all that.
“So I totally get what he’s talking about. It’s about just calming yourself down, understanding being in the present, trying not to overthink everything.”
But the first half of Game 2 was the same. The Hawks sent a double team to cut off all Randle’s driving opportunities, and he failed to hit any shots. He was 0-for-6 in the first half with two points, a dreadful two quarters encapsulated by his final attempt – a wide-open baseline jumper that fell well short.
The Hawks led by 13 at the break.
But then Randle came alive, and the Knicks followed suit to take a one-point advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Despite calls from the media and fans to replace Elfrid Payton in the lineup, coach Tom Thibodeau stubbornly stuck with his struggling point guard and it was another misadventure.
Payton played just five minutes and never played again after the first quarter. He had eight scoreless minutes in Game 1 and averaged just 4.3 points and 15.6 minutes in the final 10 games of the regular season.
Asked about his faith in Payton to start again Wednesday, Thibodeau said Game 1 was close and he specifically address the lineup strategy.
“We’re going to use everyone,” the coach said.
