----- RJ Barrett and Julius Randle combine for 51 points as the New York Knicks hammer the Portland Trail Blazers 128-98 Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Knicks use a strong second half to top the Trail Blazers!
RJ Barrett scored 31 points and Julius Randle added 20 points and nine rebounds as the New York Knicks topped the Portland Trail Blazers 128-98 Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Immanuel Quickly had 18 points and Evan Fournier chipped in 14 helping the Knicks snap a two-game slide.
Josh Hart led Portland (26-42) with 17 points, who have dropped eight of their last nine games including six-straight on the road.
The Blazers kept the game competitive in the first half trailing 66-55 going into halftime.
New York outscored the Trail Blazers 7-2 to open the second half and extend the lead to 74-57.
Portland then took advantage of three Knicks turnovers over a four-minute span and scored eight straight points to cut the deficit to 78-70. But following a timeout, the Knicks went on 9-2 spurt, capped by Barrett's dunk that put New York up by 15.
The newest Blazers' player, Kris Dunn scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Up Next- The Trail Blazers will travel to Brooklyn to meet the Nets on Friday afternoon. The game is scheduled to tip off at 4:30 PM.
Chad's Take- With the Blazers loss and the Spurs win over OKC, Portland has moved into 7th in the Draft Lottery standings. Their chance at a top 4 pick went from 26.3% to 32%.