Monday’s 114-109 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers was the result of the visiting New York Knicks’ improved defense, which also saw Jalen Brunson score 29 points and Julius Randle add 27 points and 14 rebounds.
The Knicks bounced back from a 144-122 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday to improve to 2-2 on a five-game road run with 20 points from Immanuel Quickley and 17 rebounds from Isaiah Hartenstein.
LeBron James had a triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists while Anthony Davis had 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Lakers fell to 1-3 since winning the NBA in-season tournament on Dec. 9 with a victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Austin Reaves scored 20 points for the Lakers, who had Davis, James, D’Angelo Russell and Jarred Vanderbilt all available together for the first time since the tournament title game. Los Angeles raised a downsized tournament championship banner before Monday’s game.
The Knicks used a 15-2 burst to take a 90-80 lead with 30.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter after a Quentin Grimes 3-pointer.
A Brunson trey put the Knicks up 97-90 with 7:58 remaining in the game, and another Brunson basket with 5:47 left gave New York a 101-91 advantage.
The Lakers were within 103-99 with 3:38 remaining after a James dunk, before a 3-pointer from Randle and a floater from Brunson put the Knicks up 108-101 with 2:33 left. Neither team scored again until a James basket inside cut New York’s lead to 108-103 with 1:04 remaining.
Randle delivered a fastbreak layup with 34.1 seconds remaining for a 110-103 lead, and the Knicks sealed the victory with four free throws in the final 25 seconds.
Vanderbilt, who had recently recovered from back spasms, appeared to injure his left foot late in the third quarter. He had two rebounds and one assist for the Lakers in 14 minutes.
In the last 1:21 of the first quarter, the Knicks scored nine points, giving them a 35-27 advantage. The Lakers led 58-57 at the half after scoring eight points in the last 1:07 of the second quarter. Randle led the Knicks with 16 points before the half.
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