Since Luka Doncic arrived in Los Angeles, the Lakers haven’t spent a lot of time trailing. There haven’t been many tests until their game against the New York Knicks. Last Thursday night, they played catch-up for the majority of the game, coming from behind to beat the New York Knicks in a thrilling 113-109 overtime win at Crypto.com Arena. It was their eighth straight victory and 18th win in their last 21 games.
Doncic and LeBron James combined for 63 points, 20 assists and 19 rebounds. The Lakers were down by as many as 13 points in the third quarter and started the fourth quarter down by eight. They ended regulation on a 19-9 run, helped by three 3-pointers in the final six minutes from Gabe Vincent who was 4/4 from 3-point range in the game.
“I think Gabe won us the game,” Doncic said in the post-game press conference. “Three 3s in the fourth quarter, that was huge for us, that’s how we got the energy up, that’s how we got the crowd in and I think that won us the game.”
The Lakers were 3 for 16 on 3-point field goals in the first half. They ended up with 14 made 3s. They played the first half with poor communication defensively according to Lakers head coach JJ Redick. They ended the game by holding the Knicks to just 15 fourth quarter points before outscoring New York 14-10 in overtime.
Redick said one of the things he’s heard from opposing coaches recently is that the Lakers play really hard. “I think our guy’s ability to continually just reach down into the well and give whatever they got on a given night, regardless if the shots are going in or if there’s defensive mistakes,” Redick said.” They just continue to stay the course with their effort, I think that says a lot about our group.”
In addition to Vincent who had 12 points, the Lakers also got contributions from Dalton Knecht with 11 points including a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter that cut the lead to 84-76, and Jaxson Hayes who had eight points, five rebounds, and blocks in 34 minutes. “There’s no such thing as non-key players on this team,” James said. “Everybody is key. Everybody who steps on the floor has a role.”
Austin Reaves, who missed the previous two games with a right calf strain struggled from the field, going 2/13 but did make a clutch 3-pointer to put the Lakers up 107-103 with 2:40 left in OT.
Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 39 points (13/26 FG) and 10 assists, but he had to leave the game with an ankle injury with 1:20 left in OT.
Doncic tied his Lakers high with 32 points to go with 12 assists, seven rebounds and four steals. James totaled 31 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists. He played a season-high of 44 minutes.
The Lakers have a tough four game road stretch coming up, starting Saturday in Boston against the defending champions and trips to face the Bucks and Nuggets.
Inside the Huddle with Coach:
With the Lakers looking flat at times in the 1st half, Redick had a great story about what he did as a player to get himself going.
“There were two things I did if I felt flat. I’d talk more and I’d try to get hit in the face,” Redick said. “Couldn’t always manufacture the second one. Sometimes you take a charge, or you get in a scuffle and maybe you just try to shake the cobwebs a little bit. We encourage the guys in timeouts, at halftime, to talk. Our group is awesome, our guys are amazing. They just continually respond to any adversity, to any challenge. It’s great group to coach.”