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Luka Doncic stared at officials and argued for a call while the Knicks drove with the ball in the other direction, his frustration dangerously close to boiling over.
It was that kind of night.
LeBron James pushed and shoved Karl-Anthony Towns in the paint, working with everything he had to get a stop, only to roll his eyes when the Knicks worked a little bit harder to rebound and score.
LeBron James has 34 points and Luka Doncic has 30 points and 15 assists in easy victory over New Orleans.
It was that kind of vibe.
JJ Redick, who has overseen a defense that has been in the right place at the right time for more than a month, looked to the crowd in helpless frustration as the Lakers struggled to get a stop.
It was that kind of second quarter.
And Austin Reaves, playing for the first time since sustaining a calf injury, got the ball spiked off his head by Towns after putting up a shot.
It was that kind of struggle.
Through it all, the Lakers fought. They dug into their energy reserves and found a way to keep going. And just when it seemed there would be nothing left to give, the Lakers found a way to win their eighth consecutive game.
Doncic scored the first five points of overtime and James hit four critical free throws to lift the Lakers to a 113-109 comeback win over the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night.
“You build more chemistry in those games,” Doncic said. “Those games are really sweet to win.”
After the Lakers (40-21) rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, Doncic hit a fadeaway on the first possession of overtime and a rainbow three-pointer on the second, forcing the Knicks (40-22) to play catch-up.
And after Jalen Brunson, whom the Lakers couldn’t contain all game, left the game with an ankle injury, James iced it for the Lakers with his final free throw.
“Our guys, in what felt like a playoff game at times, really just gutted out a win,” Redick said.
In between big plays from the Lakers’ stars, Reaves hit a three-pointer — his first of the game — in overtime to keep the comeback on track. Before that, Dalton Knecht ended the third quarter with a buzzer-beating three, and Gabe Vincent hit a trio of three-pointers in the fourth.
“Gabe won the game,” Doncic said.
And the Lakers’ defense, which struggled in transition and on the glass, toughened up in the fourth to hold New York to 15 points on five-of-14 shooting and to two-of-10 shooting in overtime.
“The defense gave up 15 points in the fourth quarter and we hang our hats there when we weren’t shooting the ball well,” James said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well for quite a while. Especially from the three-point arc. But we laid our hat on our defense and then those outside shots started to flow.”
Doncic led the Lakers with 32 points and 12 assists and James added 31 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Along with a returning Reaves, they combined to miss 20 of their 27 three-point attempts. But hot shooting from Knecht and Vincent coupled with timely baskets from Doncic and Reaves helped them complete a perfect six-game homestand that saw the Lakers take control of second in the Western Conference.
The Lakers open a four-game trip in Boston on Saturday followed by stops in Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Denver.
“We gotta approach next game with the same mentality, go game by game,” Doncic said. “I know we got a tough stretch but we gotta approach these games with the same mentality.”
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