Lakers flash hustle, muscle in gritty victory over Knicks

The Lakers defeating the red-hot Knicks, 110-97, on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena is impressive by itself. Entering Sunday with a 4-12 record against teams with winning percentages of .600 or better, the Lakers, for at least one day, calmed the concerns about how they have fared against some of the NBA’s better teams. And against a Knicks team that had won 16 of its previous 21 games — including beating the Nuggets by 39 points — and had the league’s fourth-best offense during that stretch, holding the Knicks to 97 points was another impressive part of Sunday. But the manner in which they won, on the back of hustle plays and defense, made Sunday even more impressive and the Lakers’ best win of the season so far. “There was one key, and that was multiple efforts,” coach JJ Redick said.“We did that throughout the game, not just in spurts.

We were able to sustain that for all four quarters.”The Lakers, a more offense-oriented group, don’t have many wins like that this season. Which is part of the reason why Redick didn’t want to overreact to Sunday’s result or the way his team played. “I’m not in a position where I can overreact,” Redick said.“You guys do that.

The fans rightfully should always overreact.It’s what makes fandom so awesome.

My job is not to overreact.We’re 15-9 in our last 24.

We’re top-10 offense and top-15 defense — that’s what we wanted to be coming into the season with this group, and that’s where our group is right now.”But for a Lakers team that’s made progress over the last few weeks but still struggled to finish against top teams before Sunday, they can recognize the significance of Sunday’s win.“It’s a pretty awesome win, for sure,” Luka Doncic said.“They just came and beat the Nuggets by 40, so I think it’s a pretty big win for us.

It gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”With the win Sunday, the Lakers (39-25) inched ahead of the Nuggets for the fifth spot in the West...