The Knicks will be looking to snap a pair of three-game streaks when they host the Rockets on Monday night at the Garden: not only have they lost three in a row, each game has also featured a technical foul on Julius Randle.
Randle is coming off two subpar games following a 57-point performance against the Timberwolves last Monday.
With just seven games remaining in the regular season, the Knicks need their star player to return to form as they try to hold on to the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Randle didn’t address reporters again after Sunday’s practice and Monday’s game will be the team’s first since the forward’s latest outburst, which came shortly before halftime of Thursday’s bad loss at Orlando.
He got into a heated argument with the referees following what Randle believed was a foul that wasn’t called.
Immanuel Quickley tried to get Randle away from referee Leon Wood, but Randle was hit with another technical.
On Sunday, RJ Barrett defended Randle, noting that Randle’s fierce competitiveness is part of what makes him a special player.
“First of all, I think we all get angry,’’ Barrett said. “He’s competing. He’s competing. People may have seen a video or whatever [of Randle’s behavior], but we all feel like that. We’re trying to compete to win, so we completely understand his competitive spirit. It’s also one of the things that makes him really good.”
But Randle has followed up his 57-point game against Minnesota with 15- and 23- point showings in losses in Miami and Orlando, hitting just 39 percent of his shots.
Asked where Randle’s “head was at” after his recent rough stretch, head coach Tom Thibodeau said, “He’s great. He’s fine. He had a good practice [Sunday]. We’ll see where he’s at [Monday].”
Barrett added the team is ready to put the latest three-game drought in the past, as well as Randle’s difficulty in avoiding technical fouls.
“Us, as a team, we understand that sometimes things are gonna happen,” Barrett said. “Whether it’s Julius, me, Jalen [Brunson], anybody. We’ve just got to stay locked in and try to focus on what we need to do.”
On Monday, that means beating a Rockets team that’s lost four straight and is in last place in the Western Conference.
The Knicks have been streaky of late, in the midst of a second three-game losing streak in nine games — with a three-game winning streak sandwiched in the middle.
Key to getting back on track prior to the postseason — along with the return of Brunson, who is listed as questionable for Monday’s game with a sprained right wrist — is Randle getting back into form.
“His mentality this season has been great,’’ Quickley said. “He’s a big part of what we do so, we need him to be at the top of his game.’’
Barrett said he didn’t expect any carryover from the last few games.
“You talk it up and move on from it and move forward,’’ Barrett said. “It helps to be a team that’s focused on winning. Then a lot of other nonsense and extra stuff doesn’t really get through and you’re able to stay focused.”
That leaves Barrett confident the team will finish strong.
“We’ve always responded, throughout the season, when things didn’t go our way,” Barrett said. “It’s been that kind of year and I think we’ll respond [again]. I think we’ll bounce back. I definitely believe in this team. We’ve done some good things to this point. We’ve just got to get back to being us and playing a Knicks brand of basketball like know we can and we’ll be all right.”