The Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to outlast the New York Knicks, 113-109, in overtime on Thursday in what was without question one of the best games of the season.
Luka Dončić and LeBron James combined to post 63 points, 20 assists and 19 rebounds. Jalen Brunson, who had to leave the game in overtime with what appeared to be a significant ankle injury, was brilliant for the Knicks with 39 points and 10 assists, including an emphatic 3-point play to tie the game in the final minute of regulation.
Both these teams are going to be heard from in a major way come the postseason, but it’s the Lakers, winners of eight straight and 10-2 since the Dončić trade, who are starting to look like a legitimate title contender.
Why? Well, let’s not get too complicated with this. They have Luka and LeBron. The force those two are playing with is overriding the fact that Dončić has not shot well since coming to L.A.; he actually didn’t shoot that well again on Thursday at 9 for 23 and 4 for 12 from 3 en route to his 32 points and 12 assists.
But it almost doesn’t matter. It’s the constant pressure they’re both putting on defenses to either double-team the ball and leave a man open or get bullied into the paint for finishes, fouls or kick-out 3s that can, and on Thursday did, carry the Lakers to victory even when shots aren’t going in.
That, and the elite defense the Lakers have been playing for some time now.
The Lakers made just 33% of their 3s on Thursday (14 for 42). Didn’t matter. There’s a force that comes with having two of the best players on the planet that keeps you in control even when you’re not, if that makes any sense; the Warriors are benefitting from this right now with the addition of Jimmy Butler. The Nets had them down 20 on Thursday and there was never a doubt that they would eventually take over.
Same goes for the Lakers, who now have the luxury of doling out creative burden in smaller quantities. Dončić had it going early with two step-back 3s inside the first four minutes and 13 first-quarter points. LeBron took control late, finishing with 31 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
With under two minutes to play in regulation, James answered Brunson’s tough bucket with a straight-on 3 to tie the game.
Thirty seconds later, LeBron went into freight-train mode, sucking in the entire defense before kicking to Gabe Vincent for a corner 3 to give the Lakers a three-point lead.
Once overtime started, it was Luka’s turn with five quick, entirely self-created points to get things started.
After the Knicks cut the lead back to one, LeBron commands the attention of two defenders and slips a short-roll pocket pass to Jaxson Hayes, who immediately swings it to the corner for an Austin Reaves 3 that put the Lakers back up four.
This is the sort of guaranteed quality shot creation that separates the good teams from the great ones, and it’s starting to look like the Lakers might be one of the latter. This is what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander provides for OKC, what Nikola Jokić gives Denver, what Butler has brought to Golden State in complement of Stephen Curry: This element of guaranteed individual force — whether by foul, finish or find — that can only be denied, even on a rough shooting night, for so long. It’s just too unrelenting.
To have one guy that provides this is a luxury. The Lakers have two of them. I was skeptical about the on-ball defense without Anthony Davis backing everyone up, but the Lakers are just too tough to be finding much flaw right now. I’m firmly in the camp that we need to be talking about them as perhaps the biggest West obstacle for Oklahoma City, if not the conference favorite altogether, and a legitimate threat to win the whole thing.
