P&T Player of the Week for Dec. 3-9: Julius Randle

Another week has come and gone, and the last 7 days have been chock-full of bad news for the New York Knicks.

The much anticipated In-Season Tournament elimination rounds arrived for the Knicks on Tuesday, and things did not go according to plan. Despite a herculean Julius Randle effort, one in which he turned in 41 points on 14-19 from the floor, the Knicks were wiped off the hardwood and sent packing. The Milwaukee Bucks scored 146 points, hit 23 three pointers, and effectively thwarted the Mecca’s bid for a IST championship.

Our reward? A matchup against the other Eastern quarterfinal losers: the Boston Celtics. What a consolation prize. Once again, a solid offensive performance by New York was overshadowed by an inferior defensive performance. Despite shooting 50% from the field and 41% from 3, the Celtics won by double digits. Derrick White scored 30 points, and four other Boston starters (Holiday, Brown, Tatum, Porzingis) all finished with at least 17 points. Brutal.

The Knicks also ran into some injury woes along the way.

Mitchell Robinson hurt his left ankle, and will be out until at least February.

As if that wasn’t a big enough blow, both Jalen Brunson and Immanuel Quickley are questionable going into tonight’s game. We’ll learn a lot about the Knicks durability and depth in the coming days.

But first things first. Despite all the bad news, we still have to name a player of the week. And it’s a no brainer: congratulations to Julius Randle on the award.

Want to know why the award belongs to him? Watch the video below. Tuesday was easily one of his most impressive performances in a Knicks jersey.

He struggled a bit with turnovers on Friday against the Celtics, but nevertheless shot the ball efficiently. 7-of-15 from the field. 3-of-4 from deep. If the Julius Randle we know is in there continues to attack the rim and not force his jumper, New York will have a far easier time navigating their health woes.

Until next week!