LOS ANGELES — The Lakers unveiled a modest black and gold championship banner on Monday night, marking their victory in the inaugural In-Season Tournament. Though dwarfed by the 17 NBA championship banners that hang alongside it inside Crypto.com Arena, its importance isn’t lost on the Lakers.
“It’s a great shot in the arm as far as us rising to the occasion from a competitive standpoint,” Coach Darvin Ham said. “Furthermore, it creates and sustains a foundation that we are trying to set for the season and ultimately the playoffs.”
Since closing out a 7-0 run to the title, the Lakers have been beset by injuries and illness, resulting in uneven outcomes. They lost two of their next three games the following week.
Anthony Davis missed the second game against the Spurs during the team’s three-game Texas trip after rolling an ankle two nights earlier and LeBron James didn’t play in the first game in San Antonio because of a calf contusion.
Others who had missed recent games were D’Angelo Russell (non-COVID illness), Jarred Vanderbilt (low back spasm) and Christian Wood (non-COVID illness).
But even with the stars healthy and starting Monday, the Lakers came up short against the New York Knicks, losing 114-109 and further shaking the foundation that they had started to build with the tournament title.
The Lakers came close, though.
James scored back-to-back baskets to trim the Knicks’ lead to 103-99 with 3:38 left, but the Knicks’ Julius Randle rattled home a desperate 3-pointer to beat the shot clock moments later. After winning a jump ball, James missed a 3-point attempt with 40 seconds to play that would have trimmed the margin to two points, and Randle cherry-picked a dunk on the other end.
Trailing 110-103, Austin Reaves made three free throws to trim the lead to four. Following free throws by Jalen Brunson, Davis landed a 3-pointer to pull the Lakers to within 112-109. A desperation shot by Reaves fell short and the Lakers lost for the third time in their last four games.
The Knicks (14-11) exploited the Lakers’ lack of chemistry, undone by the string of ailments and injuries, and found openings in their transition defense. The Lakers (15-11) also couldn’t slow the Knicks inside, giving up 62 points in the paint, and they were outhustled on the boards, 52-41.
Not even Davis’ 32 points nor James’ 25-point triple-double (11 rebounds, 11 assists) could counter the Knicks’ solid shooting from the field (47.7%) and their 3-point attack (33.3%). Nor could they successfully match the aggressive play of Brunson, who led the team with 29 points and Randle, who added 27 points and 14 rebounds in another stat-laden outing against the team that drafted him.
It could take a few more games for their chemistry to return but the Lakers are going to have to rebuild it on the road. Immediately after Monday’s game, the team headed out for a three-game trip to Chicago, Minnesota and Oklahoma City before returning home for a Christmas Day game against the Boston Celtics.
The Lakers then close out the month with a home game against Charlotte and two more road games.
With players coming in and out of the lineup recently, the Lakers’ lack of cohesiveness was evident as they struggled to match the Knicks’ intensity early and fell behind by as many as 12 in the first half.
James made just three of his seven shots in the first half, Cam Reddish had just two points in his first 10 minutes and Russell had nine points before halftime. Davis, too, had difficulty scoring until coming back into the game at the 6:27 mark of the second quarter with the Knicks holding a seven-point lead.
It took a full three minutes, but Davis managed to get the Lakers moving. Trailing 55-46, Davis connected on consecutive shots to get them within five. After Knicks center Isiah Hartenstein made two free throws, Davis completed a three-point play to cut the margin to four.
Russell closed the gap to 57-56 on a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the half, then Davis ended the half with his fifth basket with one second left to give the Lakers a 58-57 halftime lead.
“I just think his energy and activity that he’s putting into his offense,” Ham said of Davis’ inspired play this month. “His set-ups as far as getting to his spots, a lot of it has been organic, so it’s in flow (of the game). It’s not forced. I think the energy he gives us on the other side of the ball sort of ignites the juices for him to come flowing into the offense.”
The team was still without guard Gabe Vincent, who has been out for more than six weeks with a knee ailment. He reportedly was expected to return in time for Monday’s game, but Ham said Vicent still needs to improve his conditioning, something he will work on during their upcoming trip.
The Lakers’ In-Season Tournament banner is nestled near the franchise’s 17 NBA championship banners.
The players paused their pregame warmups for a brief tribute video and a celebration with the NBA Cup as their fans clapped politely. Nobody addressed the crowd before the banner was unveiled.
The Lakers deliberately put a subdued nature on their celebrations nine days after they beat Indiana in Las Vegas to win the tournament title. The decorated franchise famously doesn’t hang banners for division titles or conference titles, and it has only retired the uniform numbers of Basketball Hall of Famers.
But the Lakers eventually decided the tournament victory deserves its own recognition – beyond the $500,000 awarded to each player.
“I think it’s great,” Ham said of the tournament before the game. “Any time you can get highly competitive basketball with the best athletes in the world, I think it’s great for the fans, great for the organizations, and ultimately great for the NBA.”
The new vertical In-Season Tournament banner – which has room to add future championship years – hangs near the five horizontal banners representing the Minneapolis Lakers’ titles before the team moved to the West Coast. The 12 golden, horizontal title banners earned in Los Angeles still dominate the north wall of the arena.
More to come on this story.
