CLEVELAND — Julius Randle understood Tom Thibodeau’s decision when it came to the All-Star forward watching the entire fourth quarter from the bench.

Less than 48 hours later, in his first public comments since the Game 4 benching, Randle didn’t have a problem with it.

“We won the game,” he said on Tuesday, before the Knicks flew out to Cleveland for what they hope will be a series-clinching victory Wednesday in Game 5 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Asked if he was upset by not being out there, Randle said: “It was Thibs’ decision.”

Randle said his sprained left ankle — which cost him the final five regular-season games and Thibodeau felt was part of his shaky performance on Sunday on such a short turnaround — is fine and has not limited him.

That was not Thibodeau’s take.

The coach believes the ankle was an issue for Randle on Sunday, and he is still not himself as he plays himself back into game shape. He was held to seven points on 3-for-10 shooting in 27 minutes.

“He had to do a lot to get back to play. So you’re talking about a quick turnaround from a late Friday night game to early Sunday,” Thibodeau said. “But he’s got a couple of days to recharge. He’s bouncing around today pretty good, which is what we thought. I felt he would be impacted in that game.”

Randle did practice fully on Tuesday.

As for his effort in the third quarter, which appeared to be lacking on the defensive end, he declined to address if it was up to par.

“That’s for you to judge,” Randle said. “I don’t know.”

Thibodeau said the decision to sit Randle was “not easy” but that his star will finish games “99 percent of the time.” Sunday was just an outlier.

What is not an outlier, however, is Randle’s postseason performances.

Two years ago in his playoff debut, he struggled in a five-game series loss to the Hawks, shooting 29.8 percent from the field and committing 4.6 turnovers.

In this series, his numbers aren’t pretty either: 14.8 points on 32.3 percent shooting and 3.5 turnovers a game.

It is a considerable drop-off from his strong regular season — when the physical and versatile forward averaging 25.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and shooting 46 percent from the field in 77 games.

“When Julius is at his best, he’s very difficult to stop. I’m really not too worried about him,” Jalen Brunson said. “I just know he’s going to come back and just be better.”

Brunson praised Randle for how he handled the situation, crediting him for acting as a leader should — by supporting his teammates and putting the team first.

Randle singled out the Knicks’ depth as one of their strengths, and that was obvious Sunday — with Obi Toppin filling in for him with five points and a season-high eight rebounds in 20 minutes.

Moving forward, the Knicks obviously need Randle at his best. He was a driving force, along with Brunson, in them winning their most regular-season games (47) since 2012-13.

Randle hasn’t spoken with Thibodeau specifically about the benching, but his focus was on the Knicks closing out the series Wednesday, which would be Randle’s first series win.

“At the end of the day, I just want to win,” he said. “You know, I’m a competitor. Obviously I would like to play, but like I said it’s Thibs’ decision.”