Julius Randle equaled a career high with 46 points, and the New York Knicks rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat the Washington Wizards 115-109 on Friday night.
Jalen Brunson broke a 109-all tie with a bank shot in traffic with 42.1 seconds remaining, and the Knicks held on from there in a pulsating matchup between two teams coming out of the All-Star break in the thick of Eastern Conference playoff race - but in far different positions.
The Knicks, who are trying to finish high enough to avoid the play-in round, remained ahead of Miami for sixth place. The 10th-place Wizards have been good enough to make the play-in, but they led Chicago by only 2 1/2 games entering the night. Bradley Beal tied the game for Washington with a 3-pointer with 59.5 seconds remaining. Then Brunson drove into the lane, picked up his dribble and appeared to be stuck amid a group of players when he was able to flip the ball up off the glass and in.
Kristaps Porzingis missed a 3-pointer at the other end, and Randle found Mitchell Robinson for a layup that pushed New York’s lead to four with 11.2 seconds to go. Then Washington’s Kyle Kuzma stepped out of bounds while receiving an inbound pass, essentially sealing his team’s chances. Porzingis and Kuzma scored 23 points apiece. Porzingis made all five of his 3-point attempts on his way to a 19-point first quarter, then didn’t attempt another shot until the fourth.The Wizards led 57-38 in the second quarter, but New York came charging back behind Randle, whose dunk started a 12-2 run by the Knicks to close the half. Randle scored 11 points during that stretch, and Washington was up only 64-60 after two quarters.Knicks: Randle went 7 of 14 from 3-point range.
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