Knicks rout of Trail Blazers feels like a pointless exercise

Knicks' Julius Randle not helping cause with silent treatment

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The Knicks returned to the Garden for the first time in 2 ¹/₂ weeks, played their first game at home in March.

They faced a group of relatively anonymous athletes dressed in white and red Blazers’ jerseys — faced a starting unit that featured Drew Eubanks (no relation to legendary game-show host Bob), Trendon Watford and Brandon Williams, who played for the Westchester Knicks this season.

The Knicks were 12 ½-point favorites over the beat-up Blazers, though Portland was in a legitimate postseason race whether it wanted to be or not.

Despite having a worse record than the Knicks at 26-41, Portland stood just one game out of the play-in tournament while the Knicks were a distant five games out.

The Knicks were easy winners, took an early 11-point point lead after Julius Randle rammed home a driving dunk on the immortal Eubanks in the first quarter and wound up winning in a 128-98 rout.

“We’re going to keep scratching,’’ Tom Thibodeau said. “Who knows where this ends up?’’

No matter what Thibodeau says, it’s still a hollow victory. This matchup was more March Sadness than March Madness — two teams essentially playing for next season. RJ Barrett’s late alley-oop lob to Obi Toppin for an acrobatic jam could be a fixture for 2022-23.

RJ Barrett
RJ Barrett
Robert Sabo

Even Chauncey Billups, the rookie Blazers head coach and former Knicks point guard, admitted the play-in event is not his No. 1 priority.

Portland is trying to relaunch around injured superstar point guard Damian Lillard. The Blazers dispatched veteran guards CJ McCollum and Norm Powell at the trade deadline in order to restructure last season’s playoff club that went nowhere.

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