The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers at home this Sunday by 108-112, and they cut the losing streak of three straight losses after the nine wins prior to the thread.
Julius Randle and RJ Barrett with 33 and 30 points respectively were the architects of the victory. The second made twenty of those points in the second half.
Randle already has 16 games with more than 30 points away from home, this being the highest record of this type in the entire history of the Knicks, who also reach 40 wins for the second time in the last ten seasons. The previous one was in 2020/2021, when they achieved 41.
LeBron James, absent for the seventh consecutive game, was shown on the bench without his protective boot. It is estimated that he will be checked again in ten days.
Also out for this game was Jalen Brunson, who has missed four of the Knicks’ last five games.
The first rents were for the Lakers thanks to a differential D’Angelo Russell from the perimeter. He led the Lakers, with eleven points in record time thanks to a perfect 3/3 in triples.
Russell closed the first quarter with thirteen points in total, adding also with shots of two. At 16-11, Tom Thibodeau was forced to call a timeout and adjust defensively.
There was a stark contrast between Russell’s apparent ease in scoring from the outside and Anthony Davis’s trouble scoring from the paint or midrange. The Knicks’ defense inside the perimeter was good, and allowed them not to stray too far in the light.
The factor Julius Randle came into play, who quickly stood out in scoring, signing 18 points only in the first quarter. He took a lot of advantage with actions towards the basket and causing personal fouls. He also made all seven of his free throws.
New York closed the first quarter up on the scoreboard by four points: 27-31.
The Knicks were superior in rebounding for many moments, taking advantage of the physical advantage of having Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle on the track simultaneously. On the rebound, the visitors dominated 19-29 with a clear effect on second-chance points, which were already nine before the break.
Two consecutive triples by Russell and the Japanese Hachimura brought the Lakers (53-55) to just two points with less than two minutes to go to the locker room. And they evened it at 59, but a last triple by Randle put an open 59-62 at halftime.
There was a huge contrast in the effectiveness of the outside shot of both teams. The Knicks narrowly exceeded 30% accuracy on their shots, with Julius Raedle overusing 3-pointers, hitting one of the seven he attempted.
The polar opposite were the Lakers, especially D’Angelo Russell with another two triples in three attempts to make eight points in the third quarter to continue being the offensive benchmark for the locals.
Thus, the Californians achieved a 12-0 run to reach 81-77, which returned control of the game. Josh Hart shot from the perimeter and snapped the Knicks’ scoring drought of four minutes without a rim.
With 86-85 for the Lakers, they faced the last twelve minutes of the game.
Thibodeau’s men returned the set to the locals, an 8-16 put them back in command, seven points up and with 94-101 Darvin Ham stopped the match with a timeout.
The physical game that the Knicks put up surpassed the Lakers, who lost almost every contact battle. They managed to improve on the rebound, but not enough.
An unexpected guest appeared, RJ Barrett with thirteen points in the last quarter alone for a total of twenty in the second half. With him the Knicks reached the maximum income of the game (+10).
The seven turnovers and the havoc in the free kick (58.8%) were too much of a burden for the locals, who despite this had not yet said their last word.
A 6-0 run was capped off with an ‘alley oop’ that left Davis hanging from the rim and a tight 106-110 with only 46 seconds left in the game.
Schroeder reduced the gap to two points and New York played to keep the ball until the localss managed to send Josh Hart to the free line with 108-110 in the light with five seconds left.
He scored both and the last desperate shot was taken by Russell, who did not convert it and the match was closed with the definitive 108-112.
