New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers Gear up for First Round Playoff Matchup

Phooto: SportingNews

The New York Knicks are still uncertain about the availability of All-Star forward Julius Randle two days before their first-round playoff series opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Randle, who is the team's leading scorer and rebounder, went through parts of New York's practice on Thursday afternoon, but Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said that he "still hasn't had contact" and is "continuing to progress."

Randle suffered a sprained ankle during the Knicks' win over the Miami Heat on March 29 and did not play in the final five games of the regular season. The Knicks announced that Randle would be reevaluated two weeks after the first set of play-in games, which ended on Wednesday night.

Cavs forward Evan Mobley acknowledged Randle's importance to the Knicks, saying that "playing with him and then without him are kind of two different games." Mobley noted that with Randle on the floor, the Knicks are "definitely dynamic" with him and Jalen Brunson, while without him, it's mostly Brunson doing "a lot of the playmaking and stuff like that."

Darius Garland shared the same sentiment, saying that when Randle is on the court, there's "a lot of ISO ball" as he tries to be aggressive and get to the rim. But when Randle is not playing, Brunson has the ball in his hands more and is more focused on being aggressive with his own plays.

Despite missing five games due to injury, Randle played in three other contests against the Cavs this season, averaging 23.0 points on 43.3% shooting from the field and 40.9% from 3-point range, 10.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 35.2 minutes.

The first game of the playoff series between the Knicks and Cavs is scheduled for Saturday night at 6 p.m. at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, while the second game will be played on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. before the series shifts to New York.