DETROIT (AP) — Julius Randle had 42 points and 15 rebounds as the New York Knicks extended their winning streak against the Detroit Pistons to 11 games with a 117-104 victory Sunday.

Randle, who put up the first 40/15 game for the Knicks since Patrick Ewing on Jan. 19, 1996, averaged 28.5 points in four games against the Pistons this year.

“I’m not sure it has anything to with Detroit,” he said. “I feel like I can get my shot away against any team.”

42 PTS

15 REB

4 AST

4 Threes

W

Julius Randle is the first Knick to drop 40+ PTS and 15+ REB since Patrick Ewing in 1996 💪 pic.twitter.com/1BTGrkpnC6

— NBA (@NBA) January 15, 2023

Detroit hasn’t beat the Knicks since Nov. 6, 2019, the end of its eight-game winning streak over them.

Jalen Brunson added 27 points for the Knicks and drew three charges, putting him into a three-tie with Kevin Love and Kenrich Williams for first place in the league.

“If he’s tied for first, it is good, because now he has something to work toward,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That says to me that you are sacrificing yourself for the team – sometimes it is taking a charge, setting a screen or being the first player on the floor. That all goes into winning.”

Immanuel Quickley added 17 points.

“Quick was Quick today,” Thibodeau said. “He’s indispensable.”

Jaden Ivey had 21 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Pistons and Saddiq Bey added 21 points.

“We battled the whole game, but we should have started better,” Ivey said. “We got back into the game, but we wish we could have some of those late-game possessions back.”

Isaiah Livers moved into Detroit’s starting lineup and scored 11 points in 39 minutes, but the focus was on his defense.

“He sets the tone for us,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey said. “He did a good job getting into the ball. Brunson had 27, but he had to work for them because of Isaiah’s size and length.”

New York led by seven at halftime and increased the margin to 90-80 on Randle’s buzzer-beating tip at the end of the third.

The Knicks started the fourth with a 10-2 run, including five from Quickley to go up 100-82 with 9:43 left.

Detroit cut the deficit to 105-98 on Livers’ 3-pointer, but the game was delayed for several minutes by a malfunctioning shot clock. Randle’s 3-pointer put the margin back to double figures, and he answered Bey’s basket with one of his own.

Randle helped the Knicks clinch the game from the line.

“We’re trying to build ourselves as a team so, when the playoffs happen, we’re ready for it,” he said.

The Knicks led by as many as 20 in the first half, taking advantage of Isaiah Stewart‘s foul trouble, but Bey and Kevin Knox II helped Detroit cut the deficit to 62-55 at halftime.

The Pistons’ next home game won’t be at Little Caesars Arena – they are “hosting” the Bulls at the Accor Arena in Paris on Thursday.

“I’ve been out of the country a few times and been to London, but I’m really excited about this,” Ivey said. “I want to see a change of scenery, explore the world, do a little shopping and beat the Bulls.”

It’s what Nikola Jokic does.

On a night the Nuggets were sloppy in the second half and almost gave a game away a 15-point halftime lead, Nikola Jokic bailed them out with a step-back 3 game-winner on a busted play.

NIKOLA JOKIC CALLED GAME 😱 pic.twitter.com/5zu0ALNLn4

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2023

It’s good to have Jokic on your team.

Michael Malone: “Are you not entertained? …. (and then whispers) holy shi*.”

That’s the start of the press conference.

— Mike Singer (@msinger) January 16, 2023

Jokic finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists, his league-leading 12th triple-double of the season. Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Markelle Fultz led a balanced Magic attack scoring 20, and going against his former team Bol Bol had 17 points off the bench.

LOS ANGELES — Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been in this rarified air.

On a 20-foot straight-on jumper with 5:43 left in the first quarter, LeBron James became only the second player in NBA history to reach 38,000 points.

HISTORY MADE 👑

LeBron James becomes only the second player in NBA history to score 38,000 career points. pic.twitter.com/uqLckZ9LY0

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2023

That bucket leaves LeBron just 387 points shy of the once thought unbreakable NBA all-time scoring mark of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. LeBron is on pace to set the record just before the All-Star break in February, but if he misses a couple of back-to-backs — he has had a sore ankle and is 38 — it could come at home against the Warriors in the first game after the break.

Either way, it’s a piece of history.

“I think he’s gonna have the greatest career of all time,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said of LeBron. “I think he’s already had it, you know, and I think Michaels the greatest of all time. But that doesn’t take anything away from LeBron. LeBron has had the greatest career.”

So far, the run-up to the trade deadline has been quiet. Many more teams are buyers than sellers (thanks to the play-in changing the dynamic), which has led the handful of sellers to keep their prices high. There’s been smoke, but no real fires yet on the trade market.

One guy who could be on the move: Spurs center Jakob Poeltl. He is drawing a lot of interest from teams, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said on NBA Countdown Saturday.

“There’s a lot of interest in Poeltl and there are a lot of teams, I think, for San Antonio they’re going to make the kind of offers that they may want to move him…

“But if you’re San Antonio and you win the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes he makes perfect sense in the middle with wembayama at the four. So I think for San Antonio, you saw him do it with Dejounte Murray… They got an overwhelming offer from Atlanta, they moved him. I think you’re going to see at the trade deadline some real significant offers. A lot of teams want size.”

One of the challenges in trading for Poeltl is the team that lands him then needs to pay up and re-sign him next summer. Poeltl is making $9.4 million this season, below his market value, and that lower salary means the most the Spurs (or any team that trades for him) can offer right now is a four-year, $58 million extension. He will get more than that in free agency this summer, and any team that trades for him will have to pay enough to keep him.

Poeltl averages 11.9 points and 9.5 rebounds a game, plus he plays solid defense in the paint — he can help a lot of teams, especially ones with stretch fours, or could use size when looking ahead to potential playoff matchups against quality centers. Of course, as Woj notes, the Spurs could be one of those teams with a quality stretch four next season, so what do they want to do come the deadline.

Expect a lot more Poeltl rumors between now and Feb. 9.

Fines were handed down for players involved in a little dust-up during the Kings’ win over the Rockets on Friday night — but the big penalties came to the players who left the bench.

Houston’s Garrison Mathews was fined $35,000 for instigating the incident, running into Malik Monk, who took exception at the moment and was fined $25,000 for “continuing the altercation and taunting Mathews.” Houston’s Tari Eason picked up a $30,000 fine for being the third man in and “escalating the altercation and making inadvertent contact with a game official.”

However, the Rockets’ Jalen Green and Jae’Sean Tate got a one-game suspension for leaving the bench area during the altercation.

Jalen Green and Jae’Sean Tate have been suspended one game for leaving the bench area during an on-court altercation.

Here’s the play that occurred during Friday night’s Rockets-Kings game:pic.twitter.com/kff27upYdn

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 15, 2023

After the incident (and a video review), the officials ejected Monk, Mathews, Eason and Kings center Chimezie Metu, who did not get a fine or suspension from the league.

Suspension amounts:

Jalen Green: $65,116

Jae’Sean Tate: $48,726

The Tari Eason ($30K) and Garrison Mathews ($35K) fines are more than if either player were suspended for a game. https://t.co/Rsg6BfXpxU

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 15, 2023

Green and Tate will serve their suspension Sunday when Houston visits the Los Angeles Clippers.