Knicks’ Julius Randle ejected after shoving Suns’ Cam Johnson
Mar 4, 2022, 10:17 PM | Updated: Mar 5, 2022, 1:52 am
Sometimes competition between two athletes goes on even after the whistle blows.
With under three minutes to go in the third quarter in Friday night’s 115-114 Suns win over the Knicks, New York forward Julias Randle shoved Phoenix wing Cam Johnson right in front of a referee.
Julius Randle and Cam Johnson getting into it 👀 pic.twitter.com/cp7X6DLes2
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) March 5, 2022
Both players were issued a technical foul.
And because it was also Randle’s second technical of the night, the Knicks forward was ejected from the contest as well.
The two had been going at it all game, with Randle delivering a blow to Johnson’s midsection in the first quarter shortly after the Suns wing had come off the bench for the first time.
Johnson even had to come out of the ballgame and headed to the locker room for a short stint before returning. He explained postgame to reporters that he took a shot to the ribs and got the wind knocked out of him.
“I didn’t like that first play of the game that I was in,” he said. “It felt cheap and it hurt.”
That didn’t deter Johnson’s performance on the night though, as he finished with a career-high 38 points on 11-of-16 from the field (68.8%).
He also set a career-high with nine 3s on 12 attempts, the last of which was the game-winning bank shot at the buzzer.
Johnson joins only Damian Lillard (2019) as players who have hit nine-plus 3-pointers and a game-winning buzzer-beater in the same contest.
Randle finished the contest with 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists and one steal in 28 minutes played.
