With revenge on their minds and another back-to-back for their bodies to navigate, the Knicks take a three-game winning streak to probably the toughest place to play in the Eastern Conference.
“We owe ’em one,” Julius Randle said about Monday night’s game at Boston. “But they’re a great team. We’ve got to put our best foot forward, recover [Sunday night], get ready because it’s going to be a battle.”
The Knicks (5-4), who trounced the Hornets on Sunday afternoon at MSG, 129-107, lost the season opener at home to the Celtics because their offense froze up down the stretch and Kristaps Porzingis caught fire.
Counting preseason, it’ll be the fourth time the Knicks have faced the Celtics (7-2), who demolished two other Atlantic Division teams — the Nets and Raptors — in their previous two games.
“Very important game,” RJ Barrett said.
Jalen Brunson said Monday’s matchup will help “show us where we are as a team.” He is looking for improvement after shooting a disappointing 6-for-21 in the season opener.
“Be better,” he said. “Everywhere. Just play well, plain and simple.”
It’s the first of a five-game road trip for the Knicks, who, by the end, will have played nine of their opening 14 games away from home. After Monday, they’ll have already played three back-to-back sets.
“The games keep coming. So you can’t exhale. You can’t relax,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You can’t let your guard down. We’re being tested in a really good way. I like that our schedule is tough and has been tough. It tells us exactly where we are, tells us exactly what we have to work on. And if we’re doing the right things, the results will end up being good.”
A persistent believer that he can do more offensively, Mitchell Robinson got a post-up opportunity Sunday and … converted an and-1.
Well, at least part of the and-1.
“He’s been begging for those, man,” said Julius Randle, who assisted on the play in the second quarter. “He might get a couple more now. It looked good. It looked good. He got the and-1, he’s gotta make his f–king free throws, though.”
Randle, clearly feeling better after struggling with ankle pain at the beginning of the season, put together another aggressive effort with 23 points and five assists on 8 of 16 shooting.
Only three of his points came from behind the arc. He went to the foul line a game-high eight times.
“I scratch out the beginning of this season,” said Randle, who, according to sources, was operating at about 70 percent in the opening games while recovering from the offseason arthroscopic surgery. “When I look at my numbers when I get rim attempts, I’m above league average and I play efficient basketball that way. My whole thing, I said from the beginning of the year, is I want to play more efficient basketball. There will be a time to get to the midrange, a time to have high-volume 3s or whatever it is. But it’s a concerted effort to get downhill for sure.”
Miles Bridges, who hasn’t played in two seasons following ugly domestic violence accusations, should be back by the next time the Knicks face the Hornets on Saturday.
And, according to his coach, the Charlotte forward will immediately have a “significant role.”
“He’ll be ready to play,” Steve Clifford said. “He’s in practice every day. So he’s been well organized when he’s there. He’s in really good shape. He’s worked hard. I’ll be honest, we’ve been playing every other day, so that’s under, ‘Worry about tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.’
“Right now our problems are we don’t run back on defense, we don’t block out all the time, so I’ve been spending all my time on that. But he’ll have a significant role right away.”
Bridges was arrested in June 2022 and pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence, which followed the mother of his children, Mychelle Johnson, posting an Instagram photo of alleged bruising and other injuries on her body.
Bridges, 25, who was on a star trajectory before the legal problems, had 10 games remaining on his suspension to start this campaign. In October, he was issued a summons for violating a domestic violence protective order, misdemeanor child abuse and injury to personal property, according to ESPN.
Bridges is eligible to return Friday against the Bucks, one day before the Hornets host the Knicks.
Time and injuries haven’t sapped Thibodeau’s appreciation for Gordon Hayward.
After pushing to sign the forward in the 2020 free agency, Thibodeau called Hayward on Sunday “one of the best all-around players in the league in terms of scoring at all three levels. … He has great vision, he can play-make.”
Hayward, who scored just six points in 29 minutes against the Knicks, has been an oft-injured disappointment since signing with Hornets for four years, $120 million in 2020. The Knicks were interested but went the safer route that summer with short-term deals to Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel, Elfrid Payton, Reggie Bullock and Austin Rivers.
Hayward, 33, will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, which, if the Hornets fall out of the playoff race, makes him a candidate to be traded.
“The only thing is the injuries that slowed him down but he’s an outstanding player,” Thibodeau said.
