OG & Shamet Lead Good Old-Fashioned Win. NY 112 LA Lakers 100

February 2, 2026 LouV 2025-26 0
OG Anunoby led NY with 26 pts and Defense. Photo courtesy NY Knicks.

The Knicks took control of a tight game late in the 3rd quarter, then solidly beat the Lakers in the 4th for a 112-100 win at Madison Square Garden on a Sunday night, fans shuffling out happy to another night of single-digit temperatures in the week-long polar vortez.

It seemed like a game pulled out of 1973, with the Knicks in their glorious home whites, and the Lakers in their road purple, and both teams among the better teams in the NBA playing a tight game throughout until NY took control.

OG Anunoby led NY with 3-and-D play and aggressive drives to the bucket for 25 pts on 9-15 shooting (4-8 from 3) with 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Landry Shamet aided and abetted off the bench, scoring 23 pts on 8-13 shooting (6-10 from 3) — including killer 3’s late in the 4th.

Tyler Kolek was again a key — coming off the bench to orchestrate and push the pace at the start of the 2nd and 4th quarters, and making a highlight drive-and-kick to Josh Hart for an open 3 to turn a 4-pt Knick lead into a 7-pt lead with 9:50 left.

The Knick Defense shut down LA in the 4th quarter, and Hart was a big part of that, while also scoring 20 pts on 8-11 shooting (3-4 from 3). Karl-Anthony Towns was another key to the win — scoring only 11 pts on 5-11 shooting, but doing much dirty work underneath with 13 rebounds and 2 steals.

Jalen Brunson had a rough shooting game (4-15, 2-6 from 3 for 12 pts) but distributed instead for 13 assists and some key defensive plays under the basket. Mikal Bridges (10 pts on 5-12 shooting) was a big part of the defense as was Mitchell Robinson (7 rebounds in 23 minutes).

Luka Doncic led LA with 30 pts on 10-23 shooting (5-14 from 3), and LeBron James had 22 pts on 9-15 shooting.

“We talked about those things at halftime to our guys — and the last thing I did say to them was, ‘We were 1-5 on 50-50 balls in the 2nd quarter and that’s a tell-tale sign of where we’re at defensively,” said coach Mike Brown afterwards. “To our guys’ credit there were 7 50-50 balls in the 2nd half, and we got all 7 of them. That to me showed our guys what the difference in the ballgame was in terms of our attention to detail and getting out of it when we needed to.”

NY improves to 31-18, and remain 5.5 behind Detroit in 2nd place in the East. The Lakers fall to 31-18.

1. Close After 1 Quarter, Lakers Up 33-27

The two teams took the court in the Nationally televised Sunday night game and took it to each other from the start in a close game.

NY’s defense against the Lakers who play a pretty good defense themselves. Like the early 1970’s.

Rui Hachimura hit a 3 and a deuce late in the quarter and Deandre Ayton hit a drive-and-1 to give LA a 33-24 lead — but Landry Shamet hit the first of what would be six 3’s to pull NY back within 33-27 to end the quarter.

2. Close at Half, Lakers Up 56-52

Rui Hachimura scored another bucket inside to start the 2nd and put LA up by 8 pts, but Mohamed Diawara came back with a 3 to pull NY back within 35-30.

Tyler Kolek, in to start the 2nd quarter, again played up to the moment — this nationally televised game against the Lakers — pushing the pace, hitting Knicks with passes for in-rhythm shots, penetrating, and then hitting his own shot to keep the Lakers honest.

Knick Defense did not let up and the game stayed close.

On one key sequence — Josh Hart blocked a drive…

And then down the other end Kolek hit an 11-footer to make it a 44-42 game LA with 6 minutes left, then hit a 3 a minute later to give NY a lead at 45-44 with 4:40 left.

The Lakers re-took the lead on a 3 by Gabe Vincent and a drive by Luka Doncic — and held that lead until the half: LA 56- NY 52.

3. OG, KAT & Knicks Take Command in 3rd Quarter, Go Up 90-82

The game continued close at the start of the 3rd quarter but the Knick defense was intensifying, and they started to grab every 50-50 ball.

Karl-Anthony Towns was playing big ball inside, and OG and Josh Hart and Bridges were playing great D outside.

OG was hitting his 3 and driving to the basket for hoops.

On a key set of plays, KAT stole the ball from Luka and fed OG for a dunk, and on the next play OG stole the ball from Gabe Vincent and dunked again — and NY took a 79-77 lead. A turning point.

“Tweeted below on OG Anunoby in 2020,” noted NBA Analyst Ross Kreines. “Also, OG plays with a purpose, plays to his strengths, defends hard the entire possession while making you earn yours all while understanding how not just to move without the ball but to move with a purpose along with using his strength. Winner.”

Shamet hit a 3, and then OG hit another 3 to end the quarter and NY was up 90-82 and with momentum.

4. Kolek Puts Pressure on Early in 4th

And then it was more Kolek at start of the 4th quarter — feeding Bridges for a bucket — before the Lakers pushed back with buckets by LeBron, Marcus Smart, and Deandre Ayton.

But Kolek fired back with a key play — driving to the basket and drawing both LeBron and Ayton — then feeding Hart for a wide-open 3 and Knick 95-88 lead.

KAT then stole the ball and fed OG for a dunk and NY was up 97-88 with 9:11 left.

5. Shamet Kills LA with 3’s in 4th

Down the stretch Knick defense kept LA in check, and Landry Shamet absolutely killed LA with three killer 3’s — including back-to-back 3’s with a minute left for Ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810563

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