The Los Angeles Lakers welcomed the New York Knicks on Monday night at home after a lengthy road trip before hitting the road once more.

Before the game, the Lakers raised a banner in celebration of winning the In-Season Tournament. However, the Knicks emerged victorious, defeating the Lakers 114-109, once play began.

D’Angelo Russell and Donte DiVincenzo scored three points apiece to start the game for their respective sides. Due to the absence of starting centre Mitchell Robinson for the Knicks, the Lakers naturally made it a point to get Anthony Davis the ball down low as soon as possible. As a result, Davis was having a field day.

But after a couple of expensive mistakes by Los Angeles, the Knicks claimed their first lead, 15–14. But Austin Reaves delivered exactly what he always does, igniting the bench with a triple and a charge in the opening minute of play. However, Immanuel Quickley, who came off the bench for the Knicks, had a similar intensity. He and Reaves both drained three-pointers to close out the first quarter, allowing New York to lead 35–27 going into the second.

LeBron James went into attack mode with a layup to start the second quarter, but he was largely silent for the Lakers in the first.

From that point on, Julius Randle led the Knicks to victory, extending their lead to double digits for the first time. Following two consecutive triples by Taurean Prince, Russell added one of his own.

After that, Davis went on a rampage to close the half, including a midrange jumper that beat the buzzer to give the Lakers a 58-57 advantage at the half.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, James scored five points in a row for the Lakers before dishing Davis a flawless alley-oop ball.

Every time one team scored, the other would match it, making for an exciting third quarter full of lead changes. One instance of that was when Jalen Brunson came down and hit one after Reaves blasted a triple.

With a 12-2 run to end the quarter, the Knicks dominated the Lakers and led 90-80 going into the fourth.

After Rui Hachimura’s long-range shot to start the last quarter, Reaves found a cutting LeBron to put Los Angeles back within five. However, Darvin Ham called a much-needed timeout after Brunson and the Knicks answered with a swift run to cut their lead back to 10.

However, following the timeout, Davis and James enthralled the fans with a pair of massive dunks to cut the margin to four points.

However, after a Knicks timeout, Brunson scored inside and Randle nailed a huge three to help the team retake the lead. The Lakers lost because they had several excellent late-game opportunities but were unable to capitalise.