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Lakers Expose Where Knicks Went Wrong in Recent Loss

The Los Angeles Lakers' stars revealed what made the New York Knicks so easy to handle this time.
Jayesh Pagar|
Mar 8, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) shakes hands with Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) after the game at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Mar 8, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) shakes hands with Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) after the game at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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New York Knicks

The New York Knicks came into Los Angeles as one of the better teams in the East, but they left Crypto.com Arena looking nothing like it.

A 110-97 loss dropped them to 41-24, and the Lakers had plenty to say about it after the final buzzer. Their postgame reactions made clear this win carried real weight in the Lakers locker room.

Luka Doncic gave his take, according to the New York Basketball account on X.

"Pretty awesome win for sure. They just beat the Nuggets by 40 at Nuggets. Pretty big win for us. Gives us a lot of confidence moving forward... We did a great job. To hold a team like the New York Knicks under 100 is pretty amazing for us," he said.

Austin Reaves, who finished with 25 points, kept his answer short and to the point when speaking to reporters.

"I just thought we played hard, stuck to the game plan and competed," he said. "That's what it came down to. I think we played harder than them, and we set the tone early and had a really good third quarter."

Rui Hachimura, who scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds, explained how the Lakers built their mindset before tip-off.

"Before the game, we talked about how this game is going to be very physical, especially because we played against them last month and we saw that. We had to match their physicality and we did that from the beginning to the end of the game," he said. "It was almost like a playoff game. You know how New York, the Knicks and the Lakers game is, it's one of the biggest games of the year. So we kind of took pride... We took it personally. I think we got this done."

That personal motivation carried through the entire roster. Jaxson Hayes put it very plainly.

"A very big win. Obviously, any win's a big win in this league," he said. "I just feel like we owed them that one. We lost bad in New York and got punked by them in New York, so we just needed to get that one back."

Mike Brown Pinpoints What Cost the Knicks Against the Lakers

The mood on the Knicks' side was a sharp contrast. Head coach Mike Brown broke down what happened to SNY in his postgame presser.

"That's a recipe to get your behind kicked, especially on the road, if you're going to get beat in second chance points the way we did without boxing out, if you're going to reach because you can't contain the basketball... and then having 18 turnovers," Brown said.

Those numbers backed him up. New York gave up 15 second-chance points, sent the Lakers to the line 30 times, and lost the ball up 18 times. Karl-Anthony Towns put up 25 points and 16 rebounds, but that was not enough to cover for everything else that went wrong.

The Knicks head to face the Los Angeles Clippers next. If the rebounding and turnover problems follow them there, another rough result is on the way.

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Jayesh Pagar
JAYESH PAGAR

Jayesh Pagar is currently pursuing Sports Journalism from the London School of Journalism and brings four years of experience in sports media coverage. He has contributed extensively to NBA, WNBA, college basketball, and college football content.

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