Knicks drop in OT to Lakers after blowing out 21 point lead

RJ Barrett scored a game and career high 36 points and grabbed 8 rebounds but his effort wasn’t enough to hold off the Lakers and the New York Knicks fell 122-115 in OT after blowing out a 21 point lead shortly before halftime.

Barrett tied the game with 8.7 left on the clock to force the overtime after the Knicks trailed by 9 a couple of minutes earlier. Unfortunately, their shooting broke during extra time, going just 2-11 from the field.

“That’s a game we should’ve won. I felt like overall obviously we played well, but not good enough”

– RJ Barrett

The Lakers got a surprise as Lebron James, who missed five straight games, returned to action after being initially listed as doubtful for the matchup. James scored 10 of his total 29 points in the fourth quarter. He also added 10 assists and 13 rebounds for his fourth triple double of the season.

The Knicks started the game on an 11-0 run and kept the Lakers behind by double digits for most of the first half. They scored over 40 points in the first quarter for the first time this season.

Julius Randle‘s dunk off Barrett’s assist with 2 minutes left in the second quarter put the Knicks up 68-47 for their biggest lead of the night. But the Lakers would cut the lead 71-56 at halftime off the efforts of LeBron and Anthony Davis.

The lead was dropped seven minutes into the third quarter as the Lakers took a 80-79 lead and kept building upon throughout the fourth quarter.

With 2:22 left to play the Knicks were trailing 99-108 but Randle and Barrett would push and force the over time following RJ’s 26 foot  pull-up jump shot that tied it 111-111 with 8.7 on the clock.

James had the chance to finish it in regulation but his long three didn’t fell through. The Knicks scored just 4 points on extra time, not enough to save themselves.

Malik Monk scored 29 points for the Lakers, with 10 of them during a 21-6 run in the third quarter. Anthony Davis scored 28 and added 17 boards while former Knicks pick, Trevor Ariza, scored 11 off the bench. The Lakers outscored the Knicks 72-48 in the paint.

Randle finished with 32 points, 16 rebounds and 7 assists for the Knicks, who now fell 24-29. He shot 11-22 from the field, made a couple of threes and blocked two shots. Evan Fournier scored 15 points but his shooting was off the mark. 5-14 from the field, including 3-10 from behind the arc.

Alec Burks led the second unit with 12 buckets (most of them from the free throw line) and six rebounds.

Up-next: The Knicks (24-29) will travel to Utah to play the Jazz (32-21) on Monday from 9:00pm.