For now, until told otherwise, Knicks fans are allowed to breathe again. For now, until told otherwise, it seems that the news about Julius Randle’s season may land softer than Randle himself did Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, when he fell on his right shoulder, dislocating it and sending a ripple of fear throughout the faithful.
Soures confirmed to The Post’s Stefan Bondy on Monday that it’s “probably safe” to say Randle’s recovery should be measured in weeks, not months, although there is still significant caution attached to all of this, with avoiding surgery still “not conclusive” yet.
So you can pause for a beat.
You can exhale.
And if you aren’t yet prepared — smartly — to declare this crisis over until the Knicks officially release both a diagnosis and a prognosis — something they hadn’t hey done as they tipped off against the Hornets on Monday night in Charlotte — it’s OK to hope for the best again, without wondering if that’s a complete waste of time and energy.
“No one person is going to step in and give you 25 points and 10 rebounds and five assists,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said maybe 90 minutes before the game. “But collectively we can. And that’s got to be where our focus lies. We have to rely on our defense, our rebounding, sharing the ball, and if everyone does that, we will find a way to win.”
That has been the credo all year with this group, a plug-and-play mentality that has allowed them to thrive despite the extended absence of Mitchell Robinson, their most dominant defensive asset, and lately a few games without Isaiah Hartenstein, who has been an effective replacement in the middle for Robinson.
It’s different having to replace Randle, who is such an intricate piece of the Knicks’ core and is essential to everything they do on both ends of the floor. He is their biggest source of interior offensive firepower and is a stalwart on the boards. Replacing that in the short term is going to be an enormous challenge.
But it does beat the prospect of having to face the rest of the season without him, which is certainly something that hung over this development, and still will no matter how optimistic the news turns out to be. This is the kind of injury that can compromise a player anyway, but one who relies on being as physical as Randle there will be minefields aplenty whenever he does return, even if it’s his non-shooting shoulder.
“I’m always optimistic, as you guys know,” Thibodeau said, adding a dash of levity into all of this. “You have to do both. You hope for the best but you plan for the worst. So we’re encouraged that he take great care of himself. That’s huge, plus being in great shape. And so hopefully it’s positive in the end. And I don’t want to speculate, but I’m hopeful.”
The Knicks are better suited for absences because most every core member of the group buys into the grind. Adding to their challenge against the Hornets on Monday night was the absence of OG Anunoby, whose arrival helped spark the Knicks’ recent surge that included six wins in a row heading into Monday, and a 12-2 mark since Jan. 1.
The Knicks were able to survive last year when Randle went down with an ankle injury five games before the end of the season, winning the first three without him and wrapping up the five seed in the East. And while they also survived his compromised status in beating Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs, he was notably hindered against the Heat — missing Game 1 altogether — and it showed.
If the news is indeed as it was mostly described Monday — a question of weeks — then this probably happens at the most inopportune moment possible for the Knicks. Between now and Feb. 14 they still have a Garden-heavy schedule of nine games — including a six-game homestand that starts Tuesday against Utah — and then they get eight full days off for the All-Star Game.
If Randle can be back soon thereafter, and stay whole, maybe this really will only be a hiccup. And for now, the only thing to remind yourself is this: for now, until told otherwise, it could have been much worse.