Blecch.

No one said it would be easy,
but no one said it’d be this hard . . .

Julius Randle is expected to star for a Knicks team expected to win. Not win it all, but win more than they lose, by some distance. He’s struggled with his shooting the first five games, especially in the paint. Despite these off-nights, he opened the season with four double-doubles in the first four games. Outside the New Orleans fiasco, his assist-to-turnover rate’s a little over three-to-one. In the first end of this home-and-away set, Randle didn’t shoot well, but he was aggressive attacking Cleveland defenders not named Evan, which was helpful for the Knick offense. Even if one of your five players is bricking, the fact that they’re willing to present at least a theoretical threat helps keep hope alive. You may remember the sound Madison Square Garden used to make when Frank Ntilikina passed up a wide-open shot. Try to win 4-on-5, you’re gonna lose. 

In last night’s dispassionate 95-89 Knicks loss to Cavaliers, Randle, a former teammate and outspoken admirer of Kobe Bryant, channeled the rarest of Mamba mentalities: the ghost mamba. Kobe only conjured this spirit once. On May 6, 2006, his Lakers faced a Game 7 against Phoenix in the first round. The third-seeded Suns had entered the series the favorites, but soon trailed L.A. 3-1. Despite 29 and 50 points from Bryant in Games 5 and 6, the Lakers lost. By halftime of Game 7, Kobe already had 23, but his team was down 15. Over 10 quarters, Bryant had scored 102 while his team got outscored by 40.

The second half of Game 7 started and Kobe quit. He wouldn’t shoot. At all. Down 15 at the half was a layup for Kobe; he’d led his team back from that a million times. Didn’t matter. His lone point after intermission came from a free throw off a technical foul. No Laker played more second-half minutes than Kobe, yet he took fewer shots than Luke Walton, Smush Parker, OAKAAKUYOAK Sasha Vujačić, Lamar Odom, Brian Cook and Kwame Brown, and as many as Devean George and another former Knick, Rony Turiaf. This was 4-on-5 with extreme prejudice.

Last night’s effort from Randle – and it’s a kindness to call it an “effort” – was just as bizarre. Early on you could see he wasn’t comfortable putting up threes, which was a bit weird considering his struggles have more been inside the arc. But OK, I get it; maybe he wanted to get going in close and then expand his range. Nope. 

I began to wonder if he was gassed. After all, he was behind most of the team in preseason thanks to his recovery from offseason ankle surgery. Maybe a second back-to-back in a week was taking its toll. At one point on consecutive New York possessions, Randle stood in the weakside corner, in front of the Cleveland bench, and didn’t move. Then he completely whiffed on a defensive rotation. Gotta be exhaustion, right? Nope.

Randle missing a rotation happens enough that we can’t just chalk it up to a tired mind poorly wiring tired legs. Plus even after he sat for some time on the bench, he returned and looked exactly the same. Even the ghosts in Pac Man, after they get eaten, return to the game refreshed and aggressive. Randle was blinking and blue all night.

If the Knicks were a car, the check engine is on. Something’s wrong. The offense has been a dull blade, though while many struggled – outside of Immanuel Quickley and Donte DiVincenzo, the rest of the team shot 30% – Randle was the brunt of the blunt end. Last night was just the fourth time in 289 games with the Knicks Randle failed to make a 3-pointer or a free throw. He wasn’t simply not playing well. He wasn’t playing, period. A teammate would put up a shot, and instead of moving toward the paint to rebound or moving in the other direction to get back on defense, Randle just stood there. If this were 1891, before the shot clock, back when the baskets had bottoms so you had to stop the game after every made shot to get the ball down, Randle’s listlessness would still have stood out.

Everything turned in the third: the Cavs outscored the Knicks 22-13 while the Knicks not named Immanuel combined to miss 15 of 17 shots. They didn’t attempt a single free throw in the frame, which would be a big deal if they could actually make one. They can’t. New York is 28th in free throw percentage and dead-last in two-point accuracy. While we’re having fun, they’re also 27th in assists, 29th in points and dead last in field goals, field goal percentage and – cuz why not? – blocked shots.

Hopefully RJ Barrett returns soon after missing this one with knee soreness. This season isn’t all about Randle, nor are the next few games. But if he doesn’t arrive soon, this season could stop being about this season and soon become about the next. Tomorrow the Knicks face the Bucks, who feature Giannis Antetokounmpo. Then it’s the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard. Then the Spurs come to down with their power forward, one seven inches taller than Randle. Then it’s PJ Washington and Mark Williams. Then, at the end of all that, there’s Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porziņģis.