Play.
Julius Randle gives a thumbs up after a basket.
Julius Randle gave a thumbs up gesture after scoring a goal. There is a time and a place.
12:44 AM
The star forward wasn't happy despite helping his team engineer a remarkable comeback from 25 points down against the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
As he ran back to the other end of the court, the sellout crowd gave him a thumbs down as they cheered his name.
When asked what message he was trying to convey to the fans, he didn't hesitate.
He said to shut the f--- up.
"You saw that, when the Celtics thoroughly outplayed them, and the Knicks heard the boos throughout the first two-plus quarters of Thursday's win," he said. You saw what was going on.
Julius Randle gave Knicks fans a thumbs down midway through the fourth quarter after his team had heard boos for much of a game in which it trailed by as many as 25 points.
This summer, New York Mets shortstop Javier Baez made a similar gesture. After hitting a home run at the Mets' stadium, the Cubs second baseman gave the crowd a pair of thumbs down, saying it was in response to the fans' treatment of him and his teammates.
The gesture was a continuation of comments he made the day before at the team's practice facility when he was asked about the negative vibes surrounding his play.
"I don't give af--- what anyone says to me, to be honest," he said. I'm playing. I know the game better than anyone else, and that's a plus.
I don't give a s---. I just play.
The Knicks had a good season last year. He became an All-Star and All-NBA player for the first time and won the NBA's Most Improved Player award after leading the Knicks to 41 wins and the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. He set career highs in a number of categories, including scoring, rebound, assists, 3-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage. The league's Coach of the Year award was won by Tom Thibodeau for the second year in a row.
This year has been different. His 3-point shooting is down more than 8 percent from last season, and that is one of the reasons why his production has dipped. The circumstances surrounding the Knicks are vastly different than they were last season.
The Knicks entered the season with no expectations and exceeded them. They entered the season with expectations built upon last year's fourth-place finish in the East, but are now sitting 10th in the conference after Thursday's dramatic victory.
After the Celtics star hit a game-tying jumper over the Knicks star, the Knicks player banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to win the game.
The man who gave several clipped answers before explaining his actions during the game was asked if the win was special.
"I don't know," he said. It was special for our team. We kept fighting. Obviously don't want to get in a hole, but we kept fighting and found a way to win the game.
At times this season, the passion that has bubbled up on his sleeve has been apparent, including against the Brooklyn Nets, when he and his coach were frustrated over how he was being called in Knicks games.
Evan Fournier, who poured in a career-high 41 points against his former team and admitted he didn't see the gestures that Julius Randle made toward the crowd, said that he puts emotion into everything he does.
He probably wasn't happy about it. There is no big deal. If I were him, I'd be playing hard and playing well, because it's frustrating when you give so much into something and it doesn't work out.
It's the business we're in. Julius is the image of the franchise. He's going to get more criticism because he's the star player. I think he understands that.
