Timberwolves HC Defends Former Knicks Forward

By conventional means, the New York Knicks had a handle on former compatriot Julius Randle. His new boss Chris Finch, however, appeared to think otherwise.

Randle made his return to Madison Square Garden on Friday night as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The interconference clash marked the first time that Randle's sneakers, mainstays for five seasons in Manhattan, touched Garden hardwood since the late offseason deal that sent him and Donte DiVincenzo to Minneapolis in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns.

Though the Knicks appeared to contain Randle, who was limited to eight points on a mere six tries from the field, Finch was impressed with the way he paved the way for Anthony Edwards to work his Friday magic en route to a 116-99 Minnesota win. In his postgame comments, Finch referenced the fact that the Timberwolves (22-19) were a plus-20 on the scoreboard over Randle's 35 minutes.

"Julius wants to win and he'll do whatever we need him to do to win," Finch said (h/t New York Basketball on X). "I thought he had opportunities to maybe be a little bit more aggressive or take some shots but he turned them down and he made the right plays. When they were switching on him, he drew traffic. Double-teams in the pain, deep-swarm, he made the right play."

"Julius wants to win. He'll do whatever we need him to do to win…He's a +20, that's the only number on this sheet that I really care about other than the win"

–– Timberwolves coach Chris Finch on Julius Randle taking 6 shots in the Garden pic.twitter.com/iXOLc4ebEY
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) January 18, 2025

"He'll have a game where he'll shoot it a lot more. But he was a plus-20 and that's the only number on this [stat] sheet that I really care about, other than the win."

A little bit of the luster from Friday's homecoming was lost with the medical absences of both Towns and DiVincenzo, but Randle was nonetheless offered an appreciative welcome from Knicks fans when he took the floor on Friday night. Those cheers became groans when Randle snapped out of his season-long funk to make some big plays in the sealing of the victory.

During the fourth quarter, he had the helpers on two crucial three-pointers for Nickeil Alexander-Walker that helped keep the Knicks (27-16) at bay. A big dunk created off Jaden McDaniels' swipe of Mikal Bridges served as a successful coda to the win, which once again denied the Knicks a winning streak in the new year.

Prior to tip-off, Randle lamented the bad timing of a shoulder injury that ended what became his final season in New York prematurely to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.

“I guess we’ll never know what could’ve been. I think the more unfortunate part is everything was a build, a constant build," Randle, who did not play in the two sides' preseason battle in October, said. "I feel like all our teams overachieved year after year and that team last year was our best team. So then to see if we could’ve taken it to where we had a shot, where we could’ve taken it without all the injuries, including myself. I think that was the most unfortunate part.”

The Knicks and Timberwolves completed their annual two-game set with Friday's fracas. Minnesota sits a game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth and final automatic Western Conference playoff spot.

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