NBA Game Notes (Jan. 15, 2023)

Here are the NBA game notes for games that were played on January 15, 2023.

Randle, Brunson Power Knicks

Julius Randle scored a season-high 42 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds as the New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons 117-104. The Knicks picked up their 25th win in their 44th game of the season, the earliest they’ve reached that mark since the 2012-13 season (38 games).

Randle is the first Knick to record at least 40 points and 15 rebounds in a regular season game* since Patrick Ewing on Jan. 19, 1996.

* Carmelo Anthony had 42 points and 17 rebounds in a playoff game of April 19, 2011.

Randle shot 15-24 from the field (62.5%) — including 4-7 from 3-point range — and made all eight of his free throws. He committed just one turnover, making him the first Knick to record a 40-point, 15-rebound game with one or fewer turnovers since the NBA began tracking individual turnovers in 1977-78.

Randle has recorded a double-double in each of his last 10 games, the longest such streak of his career. Randle is averaging 29.4 PPG and 14.4 RPG over that span. He has 26 double-doubles for the season, third in the NBA behind Domantas Sabonis (33) and Nikola Jokic (30).

Teammate Jalen Brunson scored 27 points on 9-17 shooting from the field, his sixth straight 25-point game. That’s the longest such streak by a Knicks guard since Walt Frazier recorded seven such games in a row in December 1971.

Brunson is just the third player in franchise history to record six straight 25-point games with an effective field goal percentage of at least 55%, joining Bernard King (February 1984) and Randle (December 2022).

Over his last eight games, Brunson is averaging 31.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 6.4 APG, with shooting percentages of 52.3% from the field, 48.9% from 3-point range, and 80.7% from the free throw line.