Julius Randle received MVP chants at Madison Square Garden following dominant first half

The Knicks have a star on their hands in Julius Randle, and the home crowd at MSG let him hear it.

New York Knicks power forward Julius Randle has been performing at a different level over the last few games, and his performance had the crowd at Madison Square Garden singing his praises.

Randle received MVP chants from the home crowd during the third quarter of Saturday’s game against the Toronto Raptors following an impressive first-half outing.

There’s no denying how important Randle is to the success of his team and what he’s been able to accomplish with the Knicks this season, which has many people echoing the sentiment from Madison Square Garden.

It’s not hard to see why Randle elicited that reaction following a dominant first-half performance that reminded everyone why he’s one of the game’s best power forwards and players, period.

In the first half, Randle scored 20 points, including hitting four 3-pointers, and had six rebounds. But his first quarter was even better, as he scored 13 points and connected on three 3-pointers.

Randle finished the game with 31 points, 10 rebounds and five 3-pointers in the 120-103 victory over the Raptors, which was the Knicks’ ninth straight win. RandleĀ became the first player in Knicks history to average at least 30 points per game, nine rebounds per game and six assists per game over any nine-game span.

Now whether Randle deserves to be in the MVP conversation depends on who you’re talking to. Twitter had their thoughts about whether Randle should be in the running for MVP.