As if the realization that Julius Randle will not be making it back in time for the playoffs didn’t cast enough of a pall over the Knicks’ home arena, another uninspired start Thursday night certainly made for a restless crowd in the early going at the Garden.
But the Knicks typically fought back into the game, overcoming a 21-point first-half deficit and using a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to halt their three-game losing streak with a super-important, 120-109, comeback win over the Kings.
Jalen Brunson scored 35 points with 11 assists amid his latest batch of MVP chants, and Josh Hart nearly registered his seventh triple-double since Randle left the lineup in late January with a season-high 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in 43 minutes.
Donte DiVincenzo contributed 21 points with five more 3-pointers for the Knicks, who improved to 16-14 in 30 games with Randle sidelined.
They remain in the No. 5 playoff position in the Eastern Conference — with the same overall record as the Magic (45-31) — with six games remaining beginning Friday night in Chicago.
Following the official news that Randle will undergo season-ending surgery on his dislocated right shoulder, Hart and midseason-acquisition Precious Achiuwa will continue to get the bulk of the minutes at the power forward spot heading into the postseason.
Hart remained in the lineup Thursday after being listed as questionable for the game with a wrist injury.
“The next guy get in here, get the job done,” coach Tom Thibodeau said beforehand. “I’ve said this to you guys from the start: We’re not replacing Julius individually. We’re doing it collectively. And that’s one thing that this team has responded extremely well to.”
DiVincenzo had said after the Knicks fell behind by double-digits early in Tuesday’s loss in Miami that they needed to come out with “urgency from the start,” but they spotted the Kings a 23-11 advantage in the first eight minutes.
Miles McBride (12 points) missed all four 3-point tries and all six field-goal attempts as the Knicks trailed 35-20 through one quarter, with De’Aaron Fox netting 11 of his team-high 29 for Sacramento.
That deficit was extended 21 on Fox’s 3-pointer barely three minutes into the second.
Still, Hart’s traditional three-point play, a long-range bucket by DiVincenzo, and a steal and dunk by Brunson keyed a 16-2 Knicks surge to close within seven with four minutes remaining before halftime.
McBride finally scored his first points after seven misses on a corner 3 with one minute remaining. Brunson finished the half with 18 points, including a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, but the Kings led 60-52 at intermission.
Keegan Murray’s 3-pointer pushed the Sacramento lead back to 14 early in the third, but DiVincenzo drained two in a row from beyond the arc for a 68-62 game at the 8:11 mark.
Hart’s reverse layup, two McBride treys and a Hart breakaway dunk off a Brunson steal closed the gap to three, though the Kings netted the next five points.
Still, the Knicks fought back again, and the crowd erupted when DiVincenzo’s fifth 3-pointer tied the score at 84 with barely one minute remaining in the third.
He then sank three straight free throws for the Knicks’ first lead since the opening minutes, but Fox’s 3-ball with 10 seconds to go pulled the Kings back even at 87-87 entering the final quarter.
Bojan Bogdanovic dropped in five of his 12 points to start the fourth, and Hart’s drive-and-1 put the Knicks up by five with 7:53 left.
That was part of a 13-0 Knicks surge that was capped by the crowd erupting on Brunson’s left-side 3-pointer for a 105-95 lead at the midway mark of the quarter.
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