Before the Knicks celebrated the golden anniversary of the franchise’s most-recent NBA title Saturday night, Jalen Brunson grabbed the microphone to address the Madison Square Garden crowd.
He listed the admirable traits of that 1972-73 NBA championship squad the current Knicks have hoped to emulate as they continue their march back to relevance: hard work, selflessness and sacrifice.
Those qualities were on display once again for the surging Knicks, who seized their fifth consecutive victory since the deadline deal for Josh Hart with a 128-106 waxing of the sinking Pelicans.
Julius Randle followed up his 46 points from Friday night in Washington, which tied a career high, by netting 28, including 16 in the opening quarter, as the Knicks (35-27) closed within a half-game of the Nets for the No. 5 playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
Brunson finished with 20 points and five assists, and RJ Barrett played an effective overall game with 25 points on 8-for-13 shooting and a season-high seven assists after he sat out down the stretch of the win Friday over the Wizards.
Hart (15 points) and Immanuel Quickley (13) contributed again off the bench, while Mitchell Robinson registered his second straight double-double (11 points and 13 rebounds in 28 minutes) after he returned to the lineup Friday for the first time since Jan. 19 thumb surgery.
Derrick Rose even made his first appearance since Dec. 31 in the closing minutes of the laugher after the fans chanted the popular veteran’s name for several minutes.
Brandon Ingram scored 19 points to lead the Pelicans, who fell to 6-17 in the 23 games for which All-Star forward Zion Williamson has been sidelined since he suffered a hamstring injury on Jan. 2.
Randle, who threw down an exclamation point dunk on a pass off the backboard from Quickley late in the fourth quarter, certainly is showing no signs of complacency after his second All-Star designation in three years. He’s continuing to put his rocky 2021-22 season behind him with an overall scoring average of 25.1 points per game.
Read Related Also: Larsa Pippen’s Followers Beg Her Not To Wear This ‘Awful’ Outfit For NYE
“I think the biggest thing is to never stop,” coach Tom Thibodeau said before the game about Randle. “Obviously, [two] years ago he had an unbelievable season. And then to be mentally tough when you face adversity is probably the most important thing in life. So he didn’t stay down. He battled back and I think each situation teaches you something.
“Last year was tough, teams loaded up a lot more to him. They didn’t wait to see if he got going. So he was able to take all of that, and get going. He and Jalen really connected. The whole team, really.”
Barrett also turned in an assertive performance after he sat out the final 7:56 Friday night in Washington, as Thibodeau went with Hart and Quickley for the entire fourth quarter.
“It’s going to be what goes well, but RJ’s obviously a very important part of the team,” Thibodeau said. “Just get out there, we want everyone to sacrifice, put the team first.
“Sometimes another guy’s got it going and that’s the way it is. But put the team first; he’s always been a team-first guy. Get out there and whatever you can contribute to the team, winning, that’s what we want everyone to do.”
On Saturday, a 3-pointer by Obi Toppin with 38.1 seconds left in the first quarter pushed the Knicks’ cushion to 42-22. They went 8-for-15 from 3-point range in the opening quarter — including a 4-for-6 start by Randle — and led 42-26 heading into the second.
The Knicks led by as many as 23 early in the second quarter before reaching intermission with a 73-52 advantage. Randle nailed his fifth trey in the period and had 19 points at halftime, with Barrett adding 13 and Brunson totaling 12.
After multi-generational fan favorite Clyde Frazier addressed the crowd during the halftime ceremony — featuring a video message sent by former captain Willis Reed — the current Knicks went back to work. They extended their margin to 27 with 7:24 left in the third quarter on consecutive 3-pointers by Brunson and Quentin Grimes and carried a 102-82 lead into the final period.
