A year to the day earlier, New York had opened its heart to Julius Randle for the first time. Oh, he couldn’t hear any of it, of course: Madison Square Garden was still bereft of customers, and the atmosphere was downright depressing. Empty gyms are fine when you’re on the make on the AAU circuit.
Less so when you’re trying out the extent of your NBA bona fides.
“It’s so unfortunate our fans can’t be a part of this,” Randle said on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, not long after the Knicks finished off what would turn out to be one of their signature wins of a 42-win season, a thrilling 112-100 come-from-behind victory over the Utah Jazz, bound for a 52-20 season and No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
The Knicks were only eight games into their season but already Randle had shown that he was going to make that season special. He scored 30 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, added seven assists and actually inspired a…