New York Knicks star Julius Randle took issue with contact he received from Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen late in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the teams’ first-round series Tuesday night in Cleveland.
With the Knicks down by 23, Randle went in for a breakaway dunk and was hit by Allen, causing New York’s All-Star forward to fall awkwardly out of bounds.
Randle was upset by the contact and exchanged words with several Cavs players and coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
“I thought it was a little unnecessary … typically when you make those kind of plays, you run across their body, not through them,” Randle said. “But it’s fine, it’s irrelevant. We get to go back to the Garden and we’ll see them there.”
Allen was called for a flagrant foul, which Bickerstaff felt was undeserved.
“They kept playing hard. They kept running through passing lanes. Why would one team play hard and not the other?” he said. “There was nothing dirty about the play. It wasn’t a flagrant foul. He contested a shot at the rim. It’s that simple.”
Randle scored 22 points in the 107-90 loss, which tied the series at 1. It was his second game since returning from a left ankle sprain that had sidelined him since March 29.
Why he was still in a game the Cavs were up big in with just 2:22 remaining left some confused, but coach Tom Thibodeau said after it ended that it was Randle’s decision.
“I was actually going to sub Julius out, and he wanted to stay in for a couple more possessions just to find rhythm,” Thibodeau said.
Game 3 is at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Source: www.espn.com