The stars were everywhere you looked Saturday night, both on Celebrity Row and on the court, partly due to the lone visit of the season by LeBron James and the Lakers.
But mostly, once again, the packed crowd came to get a glimpse of and cheer on the hottest team in the NBA and in New York sports.
First-time All-Star Jalen Brunson was swarmed with double teams throughout — especially in the fourth quarter — and he ultimately couldn’t will the undermanned Knicks to their 10th straight win, however, dropping a 113-105 decision to James and his Tinseltown team in a nationally televised showcase game at MSG.
“We just didn’t make enough plays on both sides of the ball,” Brunson said afterward. “I think our defense helped us stay in the game as long as it did.
“Obviously, shots didn’t fall for us, but we had a lot of good looks. They made it tough all night. Got to give them credit. But we missed some shots we usually make.”
Brunson scored a game-high 36 points with 10 assists — for his ninth game with 30 or more in his last 11 appearances — but the Knicks fell to 15-3 since Jan. 1 and to 32-18 overall, dropping back to 1.5 games behind the victorious Bucks for the No. 2 playoff position in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks led 86-80 through three quarters, but they missed 13 of their first 16 shots in the fourth, and were held scoreless for nearly seven minutes at one point in the period.
“Bad spurt. We’ve been playing well. Just had a bad spurt,” Josh Hart said. “We can’t hang our heads or get too down about it. We won nine in a row. Before that we won five in a row. … Right now we’re missing three or four guys.
“We just didn’t make shots. … So we can’t put too much into it. Obviously we always want to win. But it’s a tough one.”
Donte DiVincenzo buried six more 3-pointers on 16 attempts and finished with 26 points, while Hart contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks, who played again without the injured Julius Randle, OG Anunoby and Quentin Grimes.
James, who mostly was guarded by Precious Achiuwa, finished with 24 points, while fellow All-Star Anthony Davis had 11 with 19 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Lakers (26-25) in their returns to the lineup after sitting out Thursday’s game in Boston.
Before the game, James had called Brunson “phenomenal,” and the 20-time All-Star added he was “super happy and super proud” of the Knicks’ point guard for his deserved initial All-Star designation.
You could tell immediately there were a fair amount of LeBron/Lakers fans in attendance when James drew loud applause for a dunk in the opening minutes, followed by subsequent two-handed stuffs by Davis and Rui Hachimura.
The Knicks clanked their first seven attempts from 3-point range until DiVincenzo knocked one down with 3:24 left in the period, but the Lakers held a 27-25 lead through one.
The Knicks missed 12 of 17 from long distance in the first half, but DiVincenzo’s third trey pulled them even with 1:02 remaining in the second quarter en route to a 59-59 knot at intermission.
DiVincenzo nailed another 3-pointer and scored seven points in a 12-5 spurt to open the third, and the Knicks clung to a six-point advantage into the final period.
James sank two fall-away jumpers in a 9-0 LA spurt to open the fourth for a three-point lead, however, before Brunson drove and kicked out to Hart for a game-tying trey from the right corner.
Still, Taurean Prince scored six straight points for a 100-96 Lakers lead with under six minutes remaining.
The Lakers swarmed Brunson with double teams on the next few empty possessions for the Knicks, before an Austin Reaves corner-3 and a baseline jumper by James made it a nine-point game with 1:54 remaining.
“The start of the fourth, we’re up six, there was a big turnover, we gave up a three in transition. They got momentum, and it turned the game right there,” Thibodeau said. “They [double-teamed Brunson] the whole game. It wasn’t that they started in the fourth. Just trust the pass. We got 100 shots. So shoot if you’re open, trust the second pass. They were trying to get the ball out of his hands, and sometimes, it’s make-miss.
“Our margin of error is really small right now, so we just got to keep playing hard.”
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