LeBron James and pending free agent Anthony Davis jointly made their lone appearance at the Garden this season, and for most of the game, the Knicks gave the best team in the NBA’s Western Conference all it could handle.
But the Lakers’ dynamic duo and their improving supporting cast proved to be too much in the end, sending the Knicks to a 100-92 loss, their ninth in 11 games.
The Knicks held James to only two of his 21 points after halftime, but Davis finished with a game-high 28 (13-for-13 from the free-throw line) for the Lakers, who improved to 35-9 in their quest for the franchise’s first winning season and postseason berth since 2012-13.
“I was more of a facilitator in the second half. I wanted to try to get AD going,” James said after the game. “He looked a little out of rhythm in the first half, so I wanted to come into the third quarter and get him going.”
Potential Lakers trade-deadline target Marcus Morris scored 20 points to lead the Knicks (12-33), while Damyean Dotson nailed 5 of 11 3-point attempts and scored 17 off the bench.
With some in the crowd chanting “MVP” with 1:42 left in the fourth quarter, James missed two free throws. The Knicks got as close as six when Morris drained a late 3-pointer and then hit 1 of 2 free throws with 54.4 seconds remaining.
“I thought we defended really well, and these last couple of games we’re turning in the right direction,” Morris said. “Defensively, this has been our best stretch of the season.”
James, whose 25.1 points per game represent his lowest scoring average since his rookie campaign (20.9), also moved within 44 points of tying Lakers legend Kobe Bryant for third place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, with another area game on tap Thursday in Brooklyn.
“Kobe’s a legend. That’s for damn sure,” James said. “We were just two totally different players. His willingness to do whatever it takes to win is something you admire and love his drive to get better and better every year. As far as his game, we’re different. I’m a facilitator and he’s a natural-born scorer. We would have worked well together.”
James has been on the ball for much of his Hall of Fame career, but he has fully embraced the point-guard role this season. Lonzo Ball was one of several prospects and draft picks dealt to New Orleans in the summertime blockbuster that brought Davis to Los Angeles, and now James is the NBA’s leader in assists with a career-best 10.8 per game, comfortably ahead of second-place Ricky Rubio of the Suns (9.4).
“To me, [LeBron] has played that position his whole life,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “It’s just a matter of not having another true point guard out there while he’s doing it. We wanted to see how it looked, and to me, he’s really excelled with the lineups that we’ve had out there. Obviously, leading the league in assists, he’s having the best passing year of his career. So far so good.”
James averaged as many as 9.1 assists in a season (2017-18 with Cleveland) over his first 16 NBA seasons, but as Vogel added, “I think this team is different than any other team he’s had.”
James and Davis combined for 30 points in the first half, but the Knicks — led by 10 from Morris and nine on three 3-pointers from Dotson — managed a 48-48 tie at intermission.
The Lakers led by as many as 10 late in the third on a three-point play by Kyle Kuzma, but another Dotson 3 pulled the Knicks back within 76-70 entering the final quarter. It certainly was far more competitive than the 30-point blowout by the Lakers at Staples Center barely two weeks ago.
“I think we went in and played good basketball,” interim Knicks coach Mike Miller said. “We are not trying to play close games or anything like that, but we took a shot and came up a few points short.”
For more on the Knicks, listen to the latest episode of the “Big Apple Buckets” podcast:
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LeBron James, Anthony Davis too much for Knicks to handle - New York Post
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