Julius Randle leads Knicks to ninth win in a row 

As the clock wound down at Madison Square Garden, Happy Hour still was a few hours away, but you’d have a hard time convincing the 2,000 in attendance that this wasn’t the happiest of hours.

There was Julius Randle holding the ball on one side, Derrick Rose clapping along with the fans and RJ Barrett waving his arms, asking for more noise.

If you want to find a moment to define Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, you could point to any of Randle’s five three-point field goals in a 31-point, 10-rebound effort. Or you could roll tape on Obi Toppin’s three three-pointers.

Of course, Tom Thibodeau might prefer that you pick out a defensive stop.

But if you really want to know why the Knicks are the hottest team in the NBA, it’s because you can’t pick out just one player. Instead, it was a team effort that resulted in a 120-103 victory over the Toronto Raptors and another step in an unlikely turnaround to the season.

The Knicks’ nine-game winning streak is their longest since March 2013, when they won 54 games — the last time they qualified for the postseason. But the Knicks (34-27), sitting in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 11 games remaining, are poised to end that drought,

The last time the Knicks lost a game was April 7, and at that point, they seemed to be descending out of the playoff picture. With five losses in six games, they were two games under .500. But starting with an overtime win over Memphis, they have turned their season around, and it continued Saturday afternoon.

No one in the crowd left as Barrett conducted a postgame interview, chanting his name just as they’d chanted "MVP’’ for Randle and applauded the defense and jeered at point guard Elfrid Payton. Well, some things don’t change.

Barrett (12 rebounds) scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half, Rose added 19 points off the bench and Reggie Bullock had 16 for the Knicks, who shot 16-for-31 from three-point range.

Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby scored 27 points each and Pascal Siakam addded 26 for the Raptors, whose bench was outscored 43-11 by the Knicks’ reserves.

Leading 88-83 entering the fourth quarter, the Knicks got a three-pointer from Immanuel Quickley and Barrett followed with a jump shot and a free throw. Toppin’s corner three-pointer upped the lead to 97-83 less than two minutes in.

Rose drove through the Raptors’ defense for a floater and then led a fast break, windmilling a pass back to Toppin for another three-pointer. That capped a 14-3 run in a span of 2:46 to open a 102-86 advantage.

"It’s the best part about the team," Thibodeau said. "Julius is our engine, but we have a lot of guys stepping up and the way they trust the game. The game is going to tell you who is getting what shot, and if we call a play for you, it doesn’t mean it’s your shot; it means it’s your responsibility to make the right play for the team.

"And Julius sets the tone for that. So when a second defender comes, he’ll move the ball, and then when other guys have plays called for them, they’re doing the same thing. So everyone is making the extra pass, everyone is sacrificing for the team. And that’s what you need to have on a winning team. There’s still a lot of growth for us, and I think you’re seeing that."

When the Raptors came out of a timeout and converted two consecutive baskets, Thibodeau quickly called timeout, less than a minute after the Garden seemed ready to explode. But the Knicks went to what has become as sure of a weapon as they possess this season — Randle behind the three-point line. He was fouled by Fred VanVleet and hit all three free throws, getting the lead back to 105-90.

VanVleet’s three-pointer closed the gap to eight with less than four minutes left, but Barrett followed his own miss to up it to double-digits again. Siakam hit a three and the gap was seven, but he then misfired on a wide-open look that could have cut it to four.

Randle found Barrett cutting along the baseline and his attempt at a reverse dunk missed, but he was fouled and hit both shots for a 112-103 lead with 2:29 left.

Nerlens Noel then blocked Anunoby’s layup, raising the crowd — and the Knicks’ bench — to its feet. When Barrett hit a three-pointer, Noel got fouled as the ball was in the air and he added the free throw, the Knicks had a 13-point lead with 1:24 to play.

The Raptors arrived with a pair of talented defenders in Anunoby and Siakam. They took turns on Randle, but neither was able to do anything to slow him.

Randle scored 20 first-half points and shot 8-for-11, including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. The Knicks shot 10-for-17 from three-point range and led 64-59 at halftime.

"We’re peaking, but we can still be a lot better," Randle said. "Obviously, offensively we’re playing well. But defensively, for a full 48 minutes, I feel like we can be a lot better."

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.