Julius Randle to New York City: 'Shut the F--k Up'

Julius Randle was a tale of two halves in the New York Knicks' stunning, come-from-behind victory over the Boston Celtics at the Garden Thursday night, rebounding from a lackluster first 24 minutes to show why he believes he belongs in the NBA's upper echelon. When the smoke cleared and dust settled, the Knicks were proud owners of a 25-point comeback win and Randle had 22 points. He also had some explaining to do after everyone in the building was on the receiving end of a thumbs-down salute when things weren't going so well. And, wouldn't you know it, he had one.

“You saw that," Randle told reporters. "You saw what was going on with that. Forget. Forget.’’ 

This comes a day the forward offered this response to a question about being under-appreciated:

“Really don’t give a f–k what anybody has to say, to be honest. I’m out there playing. Nobody knows the game out there better than I do, compared to what everybody has to say.’’ 

On one hand, it is perfectly understandable for any New York athlete to get fed-up with the unreasonable spotlight, media churn, and booing fanbase. On the other, it's tremendously funny that this keeps happening. Randle saw how well the thumbs-down went for the Mets this summer and decided to bring it back. It's a plan just crazy enough to work. Or result in another postseason-free campaign.

Sports editors in the Tri-State area must be waking up this morning feeling like a million bucks. Like J. Jonah Jameson they asked for more pictures of New York athletes telling fans to get lost and, sure enough, they got them.