NEW YORK — There’s no way to prove whether the Lakers’ last-minute uniform switch affected the outcome of Saturday night’s marquee matchup against the New York Knicks.
But it certainly didn’t hurt.
Dawning their “Statement Edition” jerseys instead of their “City Edition” jerseys as originally planned, the Lakers had one of their best shotmaking games of the season with their 128-112 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
LeBron James led the way with 33 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, setting the tone for the Lakers’ offensive performance with a fadeaway jumper and back-to-back turnaround jumpers late in the first that helped give the Lakers an early advantage.
James’ triple-double was the 122nd of his career and his 10th of the season, the second-most among all players in 2024-25 behind Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić.
The Lakers (28-19) made 19 of their 40 3-point attempts for the second-most 3s they’ve made in a game to snap the five-game winning streak the Knicks (32-17) entered Saturday on, just one 3 short of the 20 3s they made in their Nov. 13 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Austin Reaves finished with 27 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals, and was an integral part of the Lakers’ pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop attack that took advantage of Karl-Anthony Towns struggling to contain the Lakers’ offense in coverage.
Rui Hachimura, who made an early pair of corner 3s, finished with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
Max Christie and Dorian Finney-Smith each scored 15 points.
Finney-Smith (five), Reaves (four), James (three), Hachimura (three) and Gabe Vincent (three) all made multiple shots from behind the 3-point line.
Vincent finished with nine points after missing the Lakers’ previous three games because of a bruised left knee.
The Lakers held the Knicks’ All-Star duo of Towns (11 points, six rebounds, three assists) and Jalen Brunson (17 points, seven assists) to a combined 28 points on 10-of-30 shooting.
Josh Hart led the Knicks with a 26 point-13 rebound-11 assist triple-double. Mikal Bridges added 16 points.