Jalen Brunson-less Knicks fall to Timberwolves as Julius Randle gets some revenge on old team

MINNEAPOLIS — Julius Randle had been quiet, just 3-for-11 from the field.

Then all of a sudden, he was staring down his former team’s bench as he put the Knicks away.

With the Knicks down six points in the fourth quarter, he scored 15 straight Timberwolves points — and 17 in the fourth quarter — to end any thought of a comeback. After stripping Karl-Anthony Towns and dunking on the other end, he mean-mugged the Knicks bench and flexed to the crowd. He finished with 25 points.

To dig the knife further, it was the other ex-Knick, Donte DiVincenzo, who hit the dagger, drilling a 3-pointer to give the Timberwolves a 17-point lead.

After winning seven in a row (including the NBA Cup final, which doesn’t count in the standings), the Knicks have dropped two of their past three as they fell 115-104 Tuesday night at the Target Center.

“He was just aggressive,” coach Mike Brown said of Randle. “He was just taking it right to us. We started blitzing [Anthony] Edwards, and they basically just gave him the ball and he put his head down and he attacked our chests. Again, we gotta give them credit, because he used his footwork, he used his power, he used his strength, he used his quickness to get by us, to finish at the rim and to get to the free-throw line.”