AFP – LeBron James delivered a master class at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, scoring 33 points in a triple-double as his Los Angeles Lakers ended the New York Knicks’ five-game NBA winning streak 128-112.
James added 11 rebounds and 12 assists, Austin Reaves added 27 points and the Lakers kept Knicks All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson in check, despite the absence of Anthony Davis with a strained abdominal muscle.
“We paid attention to details,” James said. “Without AD it’s got to be a collective group, not one of us can do it by ourselves. So it was good for us to come in with a team aspect to get stops together, clean glass and then share the ball offensively.”
But the 40-year-old James undoubtedly set the tone with another standout performance in the Manhattan arena he called “the greatest in the world”.
“He led tonight with his spirit, his force, his voice,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Obviously he played a fantastic statistic game, but from the beginning it was very clear that he was on a mission.”
Josh Hart had a triple-double of 26 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the Knicks, but Towns was held to 11 points on three-of-12 shooting and Brunson finished with a modest 17.
The Lakers improved to 28-19 and remained fifth in the Western Conference, one game behind the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets fuelled by reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic’s 22nd triple-double of the season, fended off a furious late rally by the Hornets to triumph 107-104 in Charlotte.
Serbian star Jokic scored 28 points with 13 rebounds and 17 assists, but it almost wasn’t enough as the Hornets erased a 17-point first-half deficit and took a 104-100 lead with 51.6 seconds remaining on back-to-back baskets by Miles Bridges.
Jokic answered with a three-point play, drawing a foul on a put-back basket, and put Denver back in front with a pair of free throws. Jokic then fed Jamal Murray for a running layup that completed the scoring.
Bridges scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Hornets but Charlotte slumped to a fourth straight defeat.
