What Julius Randle did to not "run his head against the wall"

When Julius Randle signed with the Knicks, he agreed to a contract worth more than $63 million.

He signed up for the pressure of being the team’s highest-paid player, the potential abuse of being an offseason consolation prize, the responsibility of being a leading man.

When it seemed like he signed up for more than he bargained for, Randle realized the potential the Knicks envisioned.

Randle posted his fourth straight double-double (13 points, 14 rebounds) to open the season, but the power forward’s game-high eight turnovers put the Knicks in a seemingly insurmountable 18-point second-half hole Monday night against the Bulls.

Then, in the final two minutes, Randle passed out of a pair of double-teams to set Bobby Portis up for a pair of 3-pointers which clinched the Knicks’ 105-98 win at Madison Square Garden.

“How many times are you gonna run your head against the wall?” David Fizdale said. “You find yourself, ‘Wait a minute, I’m running into traffic right now, I just gotta move the ball. It’s not gonna be me tonight.’ And that’s a big step for him.”

Since a 25-point, 11-rebound debut in the season opener in San Antonio, Randle had struggled matching the expectations attached to his contract. After producing 11 turnovers in the previous two games, he opened Monday night by traveling on the first possession. Then, he threw up an airball from deep.

“He’s trying to figure it out,” Fizdale said of Randle’s new role, prior to the game. “[We’re] having him make everyone better around him, leading, while defending and still being aggressive to score. It’s a lot that we’re asking of him. In his career, all he’s been asked to do for the most part is score, and now he’s juggling that and trying to figure it out. I think step-by-step he’ll get there.

“He’s going to get better, his agenda is pure. I always feel like guys improve when they are about the team.”

Randle repeatedly forced his offense, but found moments when the game came naturally, like when he chased down an offensive rebound, and split three defenders to score just before the halftime buzzer.

Randle looked ready to shoulder much of the blame for an 0-4 start in the fourth quarter, when the 24-year-old missed a layup, and was stripped by Wendell Carter, setting up Lauri Markkanen for a 3-pointer in front of Randle, which put Chicago up 98-90 with 3:24 remaining.

Then, the Knicks closed the game on a 15-0 run, with Randle finding Portis for the game’s two biggest shots.

“They were trying to send two at me, wherever I was, and everybody was in the right spots. It made my job easier,” Randle said. “We had the spacing later in the game. We started to figure it out. We came in halftime and talked about it and we adjusted. If teams are gonna guard me like that and send multiple guys at me, if we’re in the right spots I’m gonna find them, and I’m gonna continue to trust my guys to make those plays.”

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