For now, Knicks fans will be allowed to breathe again unless told otherwise. For now, until told otherwise, the news regarding Julius Randle’s season is that Randle himself fell and dislocated his right shoulder Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, sending ripples of fear throughout the faithful. It seems that the message may be conveyed more gently than when spread out.
Sours acknowledged Monday to the Post’s Stephen Bondy that it’s “probably safe” to say Randall’s recovery should be measured in weeks, not months, but that avoiding surgery could be All of this is still subject to close attention as it is still “inconclusive”.
So you can pause for a moment.
You can exhale.
And even though the Knicks aren’t yet ready to declare this crisis over until they officially announce both the diagnosis and prognosis, they wisely previewed Monday night’s matchup with the Hornets in Charlotte. Sometimes they didn’t do it, but that’s okay. Don’t think it’s a complete waste of time and energy and hope for the best again.
“There’s no one out there that can step in and give you 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said probably 90 minutes before the game. “But collectively we can do it. And that should be our focus. We have to rely on defense, rebounding and sharing the ball, and if everyone does that, we’ll find a way to win. right.”
That’s been the mantra for this group all year, with a plug-and-play mentality despite the long absence of Mitchell Robinson, their most dominant defenseman, and most recently a number without Isaiah Hartenstein. Despite the game, it has allowed them to grow. An effective midfield replacement for Robinson.
It’s different having to replace Randle, who is a very complex part of the Knicks’ core and integral to everything they do on both ends of the floor. He is their biggest source of interior offensive power and a force on the boards. Replacing this in the short term will be an extremely difficult task.
But it certainly beats the prospect of having to play the rest of the season without him, which is certainly something that haunts this development, and no matter how optimistic the news turns out, it still seems likely. It is. Either way, this is the kind of injury that’s dangerous for a player, but for a player as physically dependent as Randle, there’s a lot of minefield every time he returns, even if it’s a shoulder that can’t shoot. right.
“As you know, I’m always an optimist,” Thibodeau said, adding levity to all of this. “You have to do both. You hope for the best, but you also plan for the worst. So we encourage him to take care of himself. It’s so big and great “And I hope it ends up being a positive thing. I don’t want to speculate, but I’m hopeful.”
The Knicks are well-suited for the absence as almost all of the core members of the group will be participating in the game. The challenge Monday night against the Hornets was even greater without OG Anunoby. Anunoby’s addition ignited the Knicks’ recent rise, including a six-game winning streak heading into Monday and a 12-2 mark since Jan. 1.
Last year, when Randle went down with an ankle injury five games before the end of the season, the Knicks were able to survive, winning the first three games without him and closing out the No. 5 seed in the East. And while he survived a close call defeating Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs, he was noticeably hampered against the Heat, missing Game 1 entirely, and it showed.
If this news is pretty much as it was described on Monday, it will take a few weeks, but this would probably come at the most inopportune moment for the Knicks. From now until Feb. 14, they have a nine-game garden-heavy schedule, including six games starting Tuesday with a homestand against Utah, then get eight full days off for the All-Star Game.
If Randle comes back soon afterward and stays healthy, maybe this will just be a problem. And for now, the only thing I want to remind myself of is that unless I’m told otherwise, things could have been much worse.
