MIAMI — Julius Randle now has played in a dozen postseason games in his NBA career, and never has converted at least half of his field-goal attempts in any of them.
Randle’s latest imprecise shooting performance came in the Knicks’ Game 3 loss to the Heat on Saturday, in which he finished 4-for-15 overall while missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
Randle, who missed Game 1 of this second-round series with a re-injured ankle, is shooting 34.6 percent from the floor in seven playoff appearances against the Cavaliers and the Heat, down from 45.9 percent during the regular season.
He also endured a rough playoff debut in a five-game loss in the first round in 2021 against the Hawks, finishing that series with a shooting percentage of .298.
“Some of the looks are different. Defense is a little bit tighter,” Randle said Sunday on a video press conference call. “So I’ve got to do a better job of finding ways to execute off of that, but I’ll be fine.”
The Knicks need their leading scorer and lone All-Star to be better than that on Monday night in Game 4, or risk heading back to New York in a 3-1 series hole and on the brink of a second-round elimination.
Randle’s shutout from 3-point land — which matched an 0-for-5 night from long range by point guard Jalen Brunson — was part of an 8-for-40 combined misfiring from beyond the arc by the Knicks.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks vs. Heat NBA playoff series
- Vaccaro: Knicks’ failure to help Brunson is why their season’s over
- Knicks battle but fall in season-ending Game 6 loss to Heat
- Knicks couldn’t survive two minutes without Brunson
- Brunson’s heroic night spoiled by late turnover
Including a 7-for-34 showing in their Game 1 defeat, the Knicks are shooting 20.4 percent on 3s in their two losses and nearly double (16-for-40, 40 percent) in their lone series victory in Game 2.
“We got good looks when we executed properly,” Randle said of Saturday’s game. “Getting the ball into the paint, they’re an over-help team and they’ll collapse. So when we do that, we’re confident about the looks we’re getting and we’re confident about our ability to knock those down.”
The two-time All-Star power forward has refused to point to his balky ankle — which also cost him the final five games of the regular season — as an excuse for his poor shooting numbers.
Still, the Knicks need him and the rest of the team to be more efficient offensively — and bring more intensity at both ends of the court — beginning Monday night.
“You take the emotions out of it. You learn from the game before. This is not one you can typically just flush away,” said Randle, whose career postseason shooting percentage is now .323. “You learn from the game before, what you can do better. Mentally prepare for, do what you gotta do to prepare for it.
“But this is something we’ve been doing our whole lives. So one game is not going to determine how we feel for the next game or what we think the future’s going to be. Every game is different and we have to treat it as such. And do our best to prepare for each game.”