The Knicks vowed they weren’t looking ahead to two key games later this week, contests that will go a long way toward determining their postseason positioning.
A slip-up against the rebuilding Rockets, the team with the second-worst record in the NBA, simply would not stand.
With a pivotal home game looming Wednesday against the Heat, one of the teams chasing them in the standings for playoff seeding, the Knicks ended a three-game losing streak by pulling away in the second half for a 137-115 win at the Garden.
They also will face Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers, a potential first-round playoff foe, Friday night in Cleveland.
Immanuel Quickley dazzled with a career-high 40 points on 14-for-17 shooting — and even heard some late MVP chants — in his latest start in place of Jalen Brunson, who sat out his second straight game with a heavily wrapped sprained right hand.
Immanuel Quickley scored a career-high 40 points in the Knicks’ win over the Rockets on Monday.Getty ImagesJulius Randle also kept his cool following three straight games with a technical foul and scored 26 points, while RJ Barrett added 19 as Tom Thibodeau’s team improved to 43-33 with six games remaining. The Knicks remain in the fifth playoff position in the Eastern Conference, 2 ½ games ahead of both the sixth-place Nets and the No. 7 Heat.
“Yeah the challenge is [Monday night]. Houston Rockets,” Randle said before the game. “They’re a young team. Everybody in the NBA has talent, regardless of record. It doesn’t matter who they are.
“We’ve shown, like I’ve said all year, that we can beat anybody, we can lose to anybody. So our focus has to be there. Our execution has to be there. We’ve got to be better on the defensive end.”
Jalen Brunson sat out the Knicks’ win over the Rockets with a hand injury.Robert Sabo for NY PostEarlier Monday, Randle had chalked up his latest meltdown directed at the officials to his competitiveness and his desire to win.
The two-time All-Star addressed the media for the first time since drawing his latest technical foul — and arguing with Quickley on his way off the court at halftime — in Thursday’s loss in Orlando.
“Name a perfect leader. Name a perfect human being,” Randle said, adding there’s a fine line between being a competitor and keeping his cool. “I think it’s difficult for everybody. Credit to [the referees], they have a tough job, so it’s tough.
“At the end of the day, I just want to win and compete and that’s where my focus is. If I’m frustrated that’s where I’m coming from.”
Asked if he apologized after last week’s incident to Quickley, who was trying to pull him out of an argument with referee Leon Wood, Randle added, “I mean, what happens within our team, happens within our team. So I’m not gonna speak on specifics, on how we handle things. But at the end of the day, we’re a team, we’re good, and we’re just focused on winning.”
Quickley and Randle combined for 28 points in Monday’s first quarter, with Quickley’s 3-pointer giving him 13 in the first nine minutes.
Randle’s traditional three-point play gave him 15 as the Knicks carried a 36-33 lead through one quarter.
Barrett netted nine points alongside the four-man second unit over the first four minutes of the second quarter to help extend the lead to 10, before a 10-0 Houston run quickly tied the score.
Julius Randle dunks the ball during the Knicks’ win over the Rockets on Monday.Robert Sabo for NY PostQuickley (22), Randle (17) and Barrett (15) totaled 54 points in the half as the Knicks carried a 66-61 advantage into intermission.
Mitchell Robinson blocked three shots early in the third, and Randle’s trey put the Knicks up by a dozen with 8:40 left in the period.
Long-range buckets by Quentin Grimes (14 points) and Quickley — and then another at the buzzer by Randle — helped the Knicks take a 102-90 lead into the final period.
The Knicks pulled away early in the fourth, with Obi Toppin’s one-handed dunk putting them up by 25 and essentially icing it with 8:33 remaining.
