Unlike the oldest, the youngest of his sons (3 years old) almost never comes to see him play. “ This may be the second game he has attended. He hates it, it's too noisy “, reports Julius Randle.
In terms of noise, his son was served with this meeting against the Suns, after which the Target Center was able to explode as it should. “ Getting that shot in while my youngest boy was there is pretty cool », Qualifies the inside of the Wolves when talking about his final gesture.
The two teams were tied when the left-hander was served by Joe Ingles on the throw-in with less than three seconds to play. A situation that was not very obvious as he was far from the circle.
“ We knew they were going to change in defense. The system was for Ant' (Anthony Edwards) on the 'curl' to see if he could get anything near the circle. If not, I was going to go back, introduce myself and I knew I had about 3 seconds left. I left on my right hand and there you have it », he describes.
A dribble start in the axis of the basket, and a small step back to trigger while his defender Josh Okogie fell to the ground, trying to cause the offensive foul. “ He couldn't even contest because he fell. So I told myself that I had to stay in the game, take my time and make a good shot. I've taken this shot a thousand times. »
Aggressive from the start
And while Devin Booker raised his arms to the sky, not to celebrate in advance but to target the referees in relation to the fate of his teammate, the shot in question fell at the buzzer. Julius Randle thus closed his best game since his arrival in Minnesota in the most beautiful way: 35 points (11/20 on shots including 5/11 at 3-points), 7 assists and 4 rebounds.
“ That's what he does. Every time we played him when he was in New York, he always out-cooked us, and Finchy did a good job of telling him, 'Hey, get back to work. Take control of the match. And that's what he did tonight », greets Anthony Edwards.
His interior is aware that his performance may depend on his level of aggression. “ When I come in being aggressive from the start, trying not to think too much or try to manipulate the game, those kinds of things happen. I have to be aggressive from the start, create the play, penetrate, go to my zones, make the defense adjust to me. »
What he did this night, creating for himself and for others (best on his team), including towards his racquet friend Rudy Gobert, whom he found on several occasions. “ The most fun part was seeing how my teammates celebrated. We have a very united group, we will celebrate each other’s successes. For me, that was the coolest thing », concludes Julius Randle.
| Julius Randle | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2014-15 | LAL | 1 | 14 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| 2015-16 | LAL | 81 | 28 | 42.9 | 27.8 | 71.5 | 2.1 | 8.1 | 10.2 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 11.3 |
| 2016-17 | LAL | 74 | 29 | 48.8 | 27.0 | 72.3 | 2.0 | 6.6 | 8.6 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 13.2 |
| 2017-18 | LAL | 82 | 27 | 55.8 | 22.2 | 71.8 | 2.2 | 5.8 | 8.0 | 2.6 | 3.3 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 16.1 |
| 2018-19 | NOP | 73 | 31 | 52.4 | 34.4 | 73.1 | 2.2 | 6.5 | 8.7 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 21.4 |
| 2019-20 | NYK | 64 | 33 | 46.0 | 27.7 | 73.3 | 2.4 | 7.4 | 9.7 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 19.5 |
| 2020-21 | NYK | 71 | 38 | 45.6 | 41.1 | 81.1 | 1.2 | 9.0 | 10.2 | 6.0 | 3.2 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 24.1 |
| 2021-22 | NYK | 72 | 35 | 41.1 | 30.8 | 75.6 | 1.7 | 8.2 | 9.9 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 20.1 |
| 2022-23 | NYK | 77 | 36 | 45.9 | 34.3 | 75.7 | 1.8 | 8.1 | 10.0 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 25.1 |
| 2023-24 | NYK | 46 | 35 | 47.2 | 31.1 | 78.1 | 2.2 | 7.0 | 9.2 | 5.0 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 0.3 | 24.0 |
| 2024-25 | MIN | 13 | 34 | 50.3 | 36.8 | 81.9 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 0.1 | 20.6 |
| Total | 654 | 32 | 47.1 | 33.4 | 75.0 | 2.0 | 7.3 | 9.3 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 19.1 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.
