The Knicks picked up their first home win of the season as they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 111-97 on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Here are the takeaways...

- RJ Barrett, who missed the past two games due to knee soreness, made his return to the starting lineup. He was joined by the regulars in Jalen Brunson, Quentin Grimes, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson.

- The Clippers featured their new-look star-studded lineup for the first time in this one with James Harden making his debut alongside Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac.

- Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, shooting a combined 1-for-11 from behind the arc to start the game. Barrett showed an early burst in his return to the court, though, as he scored the first four points of the game. Brunson drained the Knicks' first three of the game off a nice feed from Josh Hart a little past the five minute mark. Despite shooting just 6-of-21 from the field, a strong defensive effort kept New York within one possession at the end of the opening frame (21-19).

- The Knicks' second unit was able to provide a nice little spark early on in the second as Barrett added a basket, Immanuel Quickley contributed four points of his own and Donte DiVincenzo popped a wide open corner three. The offensive struggles continued on both sides, though, and the score was just 46-42 heading into the break.

Randle’s been struggling early on this season but he was playing like a man on a mission in the first half. He recorded his highest first half point total so far this year (6) and continued cleaning up the glass with four rebounds.

- The Knicks came out surging in the second-half as five straight points from Barrett and a Randle alley-oop to Robinson put them ahead midway through the quarter. The Clippers made a surge of their own but New York carried the momentum and lead into the final frame.

- With the MSG faithful finally behind them, Tom Thibodeau's squad was able to get out to a 10-3 start to the fourth quarter, pushing the lead all the way up to 11. Isaiah Hartenstein, Quickley, and DiVincenzo provided some nice energy off the bench with some big shots and hustle plays on the defensive end.

The Knicks didn't look back from there and closed out the win with a bang, as the Clippers emptied their bench with three minutes remaining in the quarter. New York scored 69 points in the second-half after heading into the break with just 42 on the board.

Randle put together easily his best performance of the season with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. Robinson put together a 13 point, 15 rebound double-double of his own to go along with four steals. Barrett added 26 points and six rebounds in his return to the lineup and both Hart (10) and DiVincenzo (12) cracked double-digits off the bench.

Here are the takeaways...

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