Knicks were dealt a harsh Julius Randle reality

The rules of engagement are unforgiving at this time of the basketball calendar. What’s past is prologue. We know the Knicks wouldn’t have seen this splendid Sunday evening at Madison Square Garden without the yeoman efforts of Julius Randle all year. The chants of “M! V! P!” that regularly tumbled out of the Garden stands were testament to that.

But that doesn’t help much Monday morning. Monday morning the Knicks face a 1-0 deficit in this best-of-seven first-round playoff series with the Hawks, and the biggest culprit was their best player. That isn’t how they draw it up in the fiction section. In real life, it’s different.