Knicks get best of Zion Williamson, beat Pelicans for season-high fourth straight win

NEW ORLEANS – Not even Zion Williamson, the supernatural athletic phenomenon, could figure out the Knicks defense.

Julius Randle, on the other hand, had all the answers.

Playing his first career game against the Knicks, Williamson was flustered down the stretch by a blitzing defense as owner James Dolan watched his team win its season-high fourth straight Wednesday, 116-106.

Randle was again the hero with 31 points, outdueling Williamson in a power-forward head-to-head battle. Williamson had 25 points but bombed in the fourth quarter, managing just four points on 1-of-4 shooting with two turnovers.

Two of the Knicks biggest shots in the final four minutes – a Randle stepback jumper and Alec Burks’ trey – occurred in the face of a late-arriving Williamson.

After the game, Dolan stood outside the tunnel entrance like a fan congratulating coach Tom Thibodeau and the players. The owner had emerged in his familiar baseline position for the first time this season, sitting between team president Leon Rose and top executive William Wesley. He had been in the lower bowl of the Garden until fans were allowed back in the arena. Then he retreated elsewhere in MSG, out of sight, as the Knicks enjoyed their best start to a season in eight years.

Perhaps New Orleans’ musical atmosphere attracted Dolan, a noted blues enthusiast, even if the city is a shell of itself during the pandemic. Either way, he witnessed an impressive Knicks victory.

Nerlens Noel, the starting center, was a late scratch Wednesday with knee soreness, forcing Tom Thibodeau to start Taj Gibson and give Norvel Pelle the backup minutes. Although Noel had been a key to New York’s success – a deterrent to opponents at the rim — Gibson was the unsung hero Wednesday with eight points and 10 rebounds in 35 minutes.

The Knicks entered with their winning streak while defying all expectations in the Eastern Conference’s eighth spot. Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy said New York is “playing about as well as anybody in the East.” But Van Gundy said he’s not surprised by the Knicks’ breakthrough and Tom Thibodeau’s immediate impact, noting that the coach has been installing his system a voluntary minicamp in September.

Van Gundy added that the continuity was important after David Fizdale was fired last season.

“Tom got that little extra training camp in the summer with the bubble to start putting things together with them, so he got a little bit more time,” Van Gundy said. “And now they’ve stayed doing the same thing all year. That stuff actually helps, guys, when players can play in the same system all year. Continuity is a helpful thing.

“And Tom’s a great coach and they’ve been able to learn his system and play his system from the summer into training camp into the season. And so I think that’s summertime in the training camp, he did a great job getting that in and they had a highly, highly motivated group and then he said a hell of a year out of Julius Randle, who’s gone just from being a score to be in a great well rounded player, one of the best forwards in this league.”