The Knicks cool the spirits of the Lakers by beating them at home

The Western Conference does not give a single breather this season to the teams that fight in their middle zone. It’s up to distressing to see it from outside. For a team in need, due to expectations and trajectory, such as the Lakers, it is even worse. And each small piece that moves on the board changes the perspective of the game. The results that had been given on Saturday were combined with the victories of the Thunder and the Pelicans and this slip by the Angelenos at home and what was said the previous Friday is of little use, far away is that incredibly ambitious point in which the fans of LA after three straight wins.

The fight is fierce in that part of the NBA infield. Having fallen to the Knicks in the Crypto Arena leaves in the mouth that typical garlic flavorso intense, that it repeats and repeats for hours. They have thrown away an important opportunity and now everything has to be put together again. Ham repeated the lineup, without LeBron and Bamba and without either Walker or Reed, but Thibodeau had to rebuild his already short and immovable rotation due to the loss of Jalen Brunson, touched on his left foot. The New Yorkers won it. Given how the game was reached, this result can be considered a local skid.

He 108-112 It was resolved in the last quarter, with the pull of the Knicks and the lack of response from the Lakers to counterbalance. Maybe they failed to close the hole. D’Angelo Russell continued the momentum of the Raptors game, finishing with 33 points and just six misses, and Anthony Davis was substantially better than against the Canadians, participating actively and scoring 17 points. The substitutes once again played an interesting role in the future of the Lakers. So why did the opposite happen in the end? It is not convenient to reduce everything to a fact, it would be making a mistake, but it is worth highlighting the character of these Knicks in games that they have against (very different from the one in which they had to do relatively little) and those that are coming out successful with more lights than shadows And now those of California look 33-35 and out of the play-in. It’s only been two days since everything was wine and roses. Reality is harsh the closer you have it.

On Ham’s side negative attitudes were repeatedlike the dynamic proposed by Beasley playing with Russell at the side, and others who had not seen for a long time joined -Bad night for Brown facing the basket, he missed the eight shots he tried- with which they had not tasted until today – that Vanderbilt’s activity did not have a healing effect – so that the result was not what was desired. And they kept the target close until the last horn sounded, but this counts as a defeat and cools the spirits of the parish like a jug of cold water.

At the end AD stressed that he had not done his job. “The boys have done it, I haven’t. I have played terribly. I couldn’t find my shots.”he told reporters. In the fourth quarter he hit one and missed three, with 1/2 in the personal to add, which spoiled his double-double. But it is not the only reason for the defeat, as he also pointed out. With the victory came two of the young players for whom the Lakers traded him in the transfer of the Pelicans, four years ago: Julius Randle and Josh Hart, now reunited in The Big Apple. D’Angelo still had the hot hand from Friday, scoring 13 of his team’s first 18 points, but the Knicks power forward quickly countered his effort with two 2+1s and a dunk on counter. And the visiting team got to +8 and ended up keeping it for a good part of the second quarter, ending with a good duel between Russell and Randle. The player who marked the key to victory, however, had not shown himself much up to that moment. Barrett was the one who hit the best drive for the Knicks; his six points broke the tie at 93 early in the last act and his three pointer after two baskets from Toppin was the icing on the cake. The only thing left was not to bother him and, oh, ready… The Knicks’ crisis in the last three minutes, where they only managed one basket in play (and it was from RJ), tightened the scoring. Josh Hart converted the two free throws that freed the New Yorkers from that anguish, transferring it to the Lakers to sleep with it.