After a long road trip, the Los Angeles Lakers returned home on Monday night and hosted the New York Knicks before heading back out on the road.
The Lakers celebrated their In-Season Tournament victory by raising a banner before the game, although once the ball tipped off it was time for business and it was the Knicks that came out on top with a 114-109 victory.
The game began with D’Angelo Russell and Donte DiVincenzo draining 3-pointers for their respective teams. The Knicks were without starting center Mitchell Robinson, so naturally the Lakers made it a point to get the ball down low to Anthony Davis early, and he was feasting as a result.
After a few costly turnovers by L.A. though, the Knicks took their first lead to 15-14. Austin Reaves did what he normally does though, bringing instant energy off the bench with a triple and a charge drawn within his first minute of action. Immanuel Quickley brought a similar energy off the bench for the Knicks though as he and Reaves drained triples to end the first quarter and New York was able to take a 35-27 lead into the second quarter.
LeBron James was relatively quiet for the Lakers in the first quarter although he went into attack mode with a layup to begin the second.
Julius Randle got going offensively from there for the Knicks, stretching their lead to double digits for the first time. Taurean Prince got hot from there with back-to-back triples and then Russell made one of his own.
Davis then went on a tear to end the half, including beating the buzzer with a midrange jumper to give the Lakers a 58-57 lead at the break.
James scored five straight for the Lakers to begin the third quarter and then threw a perfect alley-oop pass to Davis.
The third quarter was an entertaining one that featured a lot of lead changes as anytime one team would score, the other would match it. A good example of that was when Reaves drilled a triple and then Jalen Brunson came down and hit one of his own.
The Knicks blitzed the Lakers to close the quarter with a 12-2 run to take a 90-80 lead into the fourth.
Rui Hachimura connected from deep to begin the final quarter and then Reaves found a cutting LeBron to get L.A. back within five. But after Brunson and the Knicks responded with a quick run to get their lead back to 10, Darvin Ham took a much-needed timeout.
Coming out of the timeout though, Davis and James brought life into the crowd with some thunderous dunks to get the deficit down to four.
After a Knicks timeout though, Randle drilled a massive 3 and then Brunson scored inside to help the Knicks regain control. The Lakers had some good opportunities late but weren’t able to convert, resulting in the loss.
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