After a convincing win over the Pelicans on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers returned to the Crypto.com arena tonight for their latest test this season: Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. With a record of 19-11 away from Madison Square Garden, the Knicks are one of the best road teams in the NBA and presented several unique challenges to the Purple and Gold tonight.
The score was 31-27 in favor of the Lakers after the first 12 minutes but it wasn’t long before the Knicks went on a run to pull the game right back within reach before halftime. As the game dwindled into its final minutes, things slowed to a crawl, giving the Lakers a breath of life. Thanks to a final push by LeBron James in the fourth quarter (who scored a game-tying three with 1:51 on the clock) the Lakers forced overtime, which is when Luka Doncic took over to finish the job.
In 43 minutes on the court, Doncic put up 32 points, seven rebounds, and 12 assists on 9-23 shooting. He was joined by LeBron James, who dropped 31 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists on 11-23 shooting. Off the bench, Gabe Vincent finished with 12 points, one rebound, and one assist in 22 minutes.
For the Knicks, Jalen Brunson contributed 39 points, four rebounds, and 10 assists on 13-26 shooting. OG Anunoby had 20 points, four rebounds, and one assist in 44 minutes while Karl-Anthony Towns had 12 points, 14 rebounds, and one assist on 3-13 shooting.
As two teams with nearly identical records, we knew this game was going to be highly competitive, and it did not disappoint. As ugly as things got on the court, the game was still close until the very end, when the Lakers finally pulled away to secure their eighth straight win. It remains to be seen if this stretch is a fluke or a sign of their standing in the West this season, but the Lakers haven’t looked this good in a long time and it’s a scary sight for the rest of the Western Conference.
Best Duo In The NBA
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss did not take it lightly to part ways with championship big man Anthony Davis. She made the call, however, when he realized Luka Doncic was on the board. In his short Lakers tenure so far, Doncic has proven her right and tonight he shined alongside his new partner and co-star, LeBron James.
In his first overtime game as a Laker, Luka was doing it all out there for the Lakers with 32 points, seven rebounds, 12 assists and four steals in 43 minutes. He didn’t shoot the ball well, but he found other ways to be effective and scored when the Lakers needed it most.
Once again, LeBron James was a steady hand for the team. He has found his place alongside Doncic and hit a nice rhythm tonight with 31 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, and one block in 44 minutes. It seems like uniting with a superior ball handler like Luka Doncic has brought his best on both ends of the floor.
Defense Wins Championships
Since trading Anthony Davis, the Lakers have been one of the best defensive teams in the NBA, and the trend continued tonight against the Knicks. Not only did they hold New York to 109 points on 39.4% shooting, but they held the Knicks to just 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime combined.
Thanks to an abundance of depth and length on the wing, and team prep by the coaching staff, the Lakers have found better ways to influence what kind of shots the Knicks are shooting throughout the game.
By packing the paint and being selective with perimeter defense, the Lakers have turned the modern trends against these teams by letting the opponents shoot themselves out of games, and that’s exactly what they did with Towns, Brunson, and Josh Hart combining to go 4-19 from beyond the arc.
Clutch Minutes From Gabe Vincent
One of the forgotten storylines of the game was the putrid performance of Austin Reaves. He was bad tonight in what has been an otherwise excellent season, going 2-13 for just eight points.
Fortunately, the Lakers had Gabe Vincent off the bench to help recover for some of Austin’s misses. Gabe initially struggled to get healthy during his Lakers tenure but he’s been huge for them this season.
Tonight, Vincent finished 12 points, one rebound, and one assist in 22 minutes. One of his biggest shots of the game came with under two minutes left, when he hit a corner three off a pass from LeBron James.
The Lakers are now firmly in second place in the West standings following tonight’s victory over the Knicks. While there is still work to be done, they are loving the results so far with their new-look roster and tonight they were able to further cement their status as a team that can contend for a title.
Sadly, there won’t be much time to celebrate for the Lakers before preparation must begin for their next game against the Boston Celtics on Saturday at TD Garden.
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