Game Thread: New York Knicks vs Los Angeles Lakers 4/12/2021 7:30 pm [Game #55]

weekend that they can still dominate with their superstar duo cheering from the bench.

The Lakers will attempt to follow up one of their most impressive performances without James and Davis on Monday night when they visit the New York Knicks.

Los Angeles sits in fifth place in the Western Conference, one game behind the Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers will be playing their 12th game without the duo, who could return within two to three weeks. James (right ankle) has missed 11 straight games, and Davis (strained right calf) has missed 25 straight contests.

The Lakers are 12-13 since Davis last played on Feb. 14 at Denver. Since James went down, they are 5-6.

Los Angeles is playing better than in the initial part of James' absence. The Lakers lost the first three games after James was injured March 20 against Atlanta, but they are 5-3 in their past eight games. Included in that span are three double-digit victories, most recently Saturday, when they pulled away in the second half for a 126-101 rout over the Brooklyn Nets.

Besides James and Davis, the Lakers also could be missing Kyle Kuzma (left calf strain), Wesley Matthews (right Achilles tendon tightness) and Marc Gasol (left hamstring soreness). That trio is questionable for Monday after sitting out on Saturday.

Despite five players missing and Dennis Schroder ejected early in the third quarter, the Lakers cruised to their fifth win of at least 25 points this season.

"It doesn't matter (to) the players in uniform if everyone is competing on the defensive end and sharing the basketball offensively and playing selflessly," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "You have a chance to win every night. Even if we're depleted, we have enough firepower offensively to win."

Those absences were lessened by the Lakers getting a season-high eight players into double figures while tying a season best with 19 3-pointers.

Andre Drummond led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds in his second game back from sitting out three games with a toe injury. The other four starters (Schroder, Talen Horton-Tucker, Markieff Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) scored at least 14 points.

"The next-man-up mentality that they've been preaching to us non-stop all year is just something that we come into every game (with)," Horton-Tucker said.

The Knicks will be taking the floor about 21 hours after holding on for a 102-96 win over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Sunday night. It was New York's second straight win decided by six points or less following consecutive two-point road losses to the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets and a stretch of five losses in six games.

"You just gotta keep working at it," New York coach Tom Thibodeau said. "You never know when it's going to change. So put everything into it to try and make it go your way."

On Sunday, the Knicks blew an 18-point lead and also saw other things go wrong. The Knicks shot 39.8 percent overall, missed 26 of 35 3-point tries, gave up a 40-15 run in the second half and also withstood a brief delay due to a leaky roof in the third quarter.

Julius Randle scored eight of his 26 in the fourth quarter, while RJ Barrett finished with 19, including a clutch 3-pointer with 34.9 seconds left -- two nights after hitting the tiebreaking 3-pointer in overtime to beat the Memphis Grizzlies.

The win over the Raptors kept the Knicks one game ahead of the Indiana Pacers for eighth in the Eastern Conference. It also pulled them within 1 1/2 games of the Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and the Celtics.

--Field Level Media

(STATS / cbssports.com)

Thanks for the Game-Thread Rady .... This is the Lakers team that beat Brooklyn Neys on Durant return .. And both of the Knicks 2 units are playing them well in the first two quarters ..
Go Knicks for the win tonight !!!

Thibs is dumb .. taking the 2nd unit out when they were warming up (6 min) to watch the starters let the Lakers go on a 9-0 run to take the lead

RJ still dont know how to complete a fast break basket, then again none of our starters know how to complete a fast-break

Payton been playing winning B.Ball the last 3 games

Working until 10, but trying to also keep an eye on the game.

Solid effort so far. Weird to play Lakers missing their top guys. Hope we can win this one.

I actually paid for this game watching on my laptop at work. RJ finally heating up and Bullock has a heat check. Gotta beat these undermanned teams especially considering the Lakers played yesterday

Half -Time .. Knicks 55 - Lakers 52

Randle has 19 pts, Payton has 12 pts, and D.Rose has 10 pts.
We have to turn-up the energy on our DEFENSE in the 2nd half.
How well will we do in the 2nd half vs a winning 2nd half Lakers team ???

3 min remain in the 3rd qtr. and the Knicks starters still on the court however, Knicks has a 10 pt lead

Knicks on 13-4 run up 13 with under a minute in the third

Big 3rd quarter run has given us a double digit lead, but can?t let up. We?ve seen how easy it is to blow late leads.

Huge game through 3 quarters for Randle. We lead by 13 going into the 4th. Let?s complete the revenge game for Randle and not blow a 4th quarter lead.

Lakers doing a lot of flopping.

Knicks up 81-68 end of 3rd only gave the Lakers 16 points in the 3rd Knicks haven?t lost a home game leading heading into the 4th

It look like Randle didn't like the substitution of Rose for Payton having 2 min left in 3rd qtr. because the Knicks were hot on both side of the court building on their double digit lead

Lead under 10 under 6 minutes to go

6 min remain in game .. Knicks have a 10 pt lead 92-82 .. Randle's tired an still want to control every offensive possession .. To Much Randle could hurt us

Peyton finally stops a 10-0 run 94-87 Knicks under 5 to go

JR chance for a conventional 3 point play completes it he has 30 points...

Here we go Bullock with a questionable flagrant 1 on a 3 pointer smh