Julius Randle, New York Knicks Ready For 'Battle' Against Boston Celtics

The New York Knicks will look to avenge an opening night loss to the Boston Celtics in Monday's opener of a five-game road trip.

While the New York Knicks did not have the start to their season that they were hoping for, they have bounced back to the tune of an active three-game winning streak. Extending it, however, will be a challenge as the Knicks face the Boston Celtics on Monday night at TD Garden (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV).

Monday's game will be the second of four meetings between the Knicks and Celtics this season. Boston came out on top in the first meeting on opening, prevailing 108-104 on Oct. 25 behind strong debuts for Jayson Tatum and former Knick Kristaps Porzingis. It'll also be the opener of a five-game road trip for the Knicks, who took three of four meetings from the Celtics last season.

This time around, the Knicks (5-4) have some momentum going into the matchup with their Eastern Conference rivals, especially in the wake of a 129-107 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday afternoon.

Despite their recent string of success, the opening night loss at Madison Square Garden has weighed heavily on Knicks personnel, namely Julius Randle.

“We owe them one,” Randle said after the Charlotte win, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “But they’re a great team. We’ve got to put our best foot forward ... get ready because it’s going to be a battle.”

Randle has every reason to take things personally: he shot 5-of-22 from the field against the Celtics (7-2) on opening night but has been playing much better as of late as he continues to recover from offseason ankle surgery: over the three-game winning streak, Randle has averaged 24.6 points and is fresh off his most efficient shooting night of the year (8-of-16 on Sunday). 

“I scratch out the beginning of this season,” Randle said. “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 threes or whatever it is. But it’s a concerted effort to get downhill for sure.”

Randle will get a chance to prove that he is really back to his former self against one of the best teams in the NBA and one of the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference in the Celtics