The New York Knicks were playing no funny games against the excuse-us-cuz-we’re-here-for-the-first-time Cavs and completed the MSG-sweep of Cleveland with a stout 102-93 win on Sunday.
Tom Thibodeau made an incredible—truly—decision that could very well credited as the deciding and game-changing choice that lifted New York above the Cavs to wrap up the weekend: he benched Julius Randle for the whole fourth quarter.
Randle played 77 regular-season games this year. He sat through a fourth quarter just eight times, once because of his season-ending ankle injury against the Heat on March 29.