Lakers 100, Knicks 92: Scenes from a schedule loss

Some things just aren’t meant to be.

In this year’s first annual Mario Hezonja Blocked LeBron James On the Final Play At MSG For One of The Knicks’ 17 Wins in 2018-19 Memorial Basketball Game, the Knicks unfortunately lost, 100-92. Let’s remember the good times:

OK, back to reality.

The Knicks actually played pretty well for a good portion of this game. In the first half, both the starters and the bench played well on both ends of the floor, and the Knicks managed to take a 28-28 tie into halftime.

The second half wouldn’t go quite as well, obviously. While the defensive intensity was still pretty solid for the Knicks, they just couldn’t make anything on offense. And as much as I hate to pinpoint one player for a whole-ass loss, the game took a big swing for the worse when Dennis Smith Jr. came in for a stint with the Knicks down 69-64, after not playing since Dec. 23. The Knicks were down 83-70 after Smith’s four-minute stint.

On top of that, though, Frank Ntilikina gave his usual contributions on D but shot 0-8 from the field for zero points. Julius Randle had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists, yet shot 6-16 from the field and had four turnovers (including a costly one late that killed a late fake comeback).

Even Damyean Dotson, who canned five triples and had 17 points, only shot 6-14 overall.

Marcus Morris continued hopefully his audition for some team other than the Knicks in two weeks, scoring 20 points on 7-16 shooting.

All in all, this game was pretty entertaining at times, but ultimately ended the way that it felt like it was supposed to end. And so we march on towards Star Wars Night against the Raptors on Friday, which hopefully won’t be as much of a garbage fire as The Rise of Skywalker.

Mr. Benjamin Buckets III, Esq. has your recap later. Til next time!