The Lakers had their three-game winning streak snapped by the Knicks (108-112) at crypto.com Arena. D’Angelo Russell led the Purple and Gold with team-high 33 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists, but it wasn’t enough for the hosts.
After the game Lakers head coach Darvin Ham talked about the loss, praising New York as a very tough team to play.
“I thought they were extremely physical, but that’s what teams are going to play us,” Ham said. “That team is built that way. It’s a hard-nosed tough outstanding coach. They’re representation of the way Thibs is.
“We had some unfortunate plays, we gave up some untimely offensive rebounds to them, didn’t get back in transition. We had our moments in the game as well where we did things as well.
“But for the most part a lot of what they did cam unfortunately at the expense of us trying to get a stop or trying to keep them off the glass, or fouling them. They had some guys step up and make some shots as well.
“It’s unfortunate but again we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves, we got to go back and fill our cups up and get ready for this two-game road trip. Again, being two games under .500, fourteen left to play, we have time.
“But we can’t waste any more time, we can’t waste any more games. And we got to come up with a focus for as much as 48 minutes or however the game takes to be over. We got to have that focus consistently and throughout.”
This loss pushed the Lakers (33-35) out of the play-in zone. The team dropped to the 11th place in the Western Conference.
Meanwhile, the Knicks (40-40) are sixth in the Eastern Conference.
