thelesterlee
Coming into Thursday night’s showdown of my favorite basketball team and ESPN’s, the Knicks were 0-8 against the top 4 teams in the NBA—including the Lakers flying into Madison Square Garden and beating them by 16 before they stole Luka from the Mavs.
Meanwhile, LA was on a 7-game winning streak with JJ Redick suddenly thrown into the coach of the year conversation as if he magically fixed this team through preparation as opposed to their random acquisition of the 2nd best basketball player on Earth.
The Knicks and Lakers both suffer the same problem where at any point in the game, their players will start doing Three Stooges routines—dribbling the ball off their own feet or rocketing passes to Spike Lee or slipping on banana peels.
But when it came to the wire, Luka, LeBron and the Lakers were able to take the 113-109 victory in overtime.
Let’s talk about some of my favorite moments of the night.
Mikal Bridges Hate Watch
I know Knicks fans hate Mikal Bridges because they sent some high schoolers to Brooklyn to obtain him and he frequently disappears on offense—but I love watching this man play.
When you truly pay attention to his contributions, it’s obvious Bridges is invaluable.
I think NBA fans are reallyyyy good at identifying which players excel at taking and making baskets.
But Bridges does everything right.
His hands are on every ball defensively.
He’s always able to get a hand or finger on the ball—tipping rebounds and steals to his teammates to set up fastbreaks the other way or save offensive possessions by coming out of nowhere and punching a ball out to someone.
He runs the floors in transition and despite his reluctance to get the basket, is a pretty damn great finisher at the rim.
Sure, the Knicks gave up a ton of first-round picks for him but his basketball awareness is through the roof.
He may be timid, playing alongside two All-NBA caliber guys and OG, who believes he, too, should be scoring 20 a night but he plays 40+ minutes of smart basketball and those smart plays will become more evident in the postseason when every single possession matters.
Keep being a weirdo, Mikal. Don’t let the hate win.
Luka Doncic vs. OG Anunoby
OG & Luka at halftime pic.twitter.com/LsW6rmt0cW
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 7, 2025
I have no reason to believe Luka Doncic and OG Anunoby have any sort of interpersonal relationship but in the first half, these two men were going band for band.
It feels like we’ve seen Oklahoma City take this approach of putting Lu Dort on Luka to frustrate him. And it works. When you get physical with Luka, he starts to believe every shot attempt deserves a whistle and he’ll mentally check out, focusing entirely on spitting at referees.
OG Anunoby was tattooed to Luka’s skin all night but unlike Dort, OG seemed equally interested in going right back at Luka offensively, as the two men were having a shootout—as we all expected. The Luka/OG game.
Who is Trey Jemison?
Trey Jemison III is on a 2-way contract, trying to make himself an NBA player.
He’s the type of big man I grew up watching. No real, deep post bag but will absolutely attempt those slow, methodical post-ups regardless.
At one point, with the shot clock winding down, Jemison just went to work on Mitchell Robinson—New York’s best interior defender—dropping a quick two to bring the Lakers closer.
From Timofey Mozgov to Joel Anthony to now Trey Jemison, LeBron loves nothing more than playing alongside swaggerless, talent-deficient centers.
Dalton Knecht is a sicko
In an alternate reality, Dalton Knecht is dancing like Mark Madsen at the Charlotte Hornets championship parade as a key contributor to the formidable dynasty of our era but instead, they’re stuck with Mark Williams running worker’s comp scams.
Dalton Knecht is a difference-maker, playing at 100mph at all times.
Knecht hit a massive 3 at the end of the third quarter to bring the Lakers within 8 going into the 4th—instead of being down 11—preventing doubt from creeping in the Lakers head, allowing them to fully lock in for the 4th.
DALTON KNECHT DEEP THREE AT THE BUZZER pic.twitter.com/jrGG2PF4YG
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) March 7, 2025
At one point, Knecht drove, head down, full speed, no thoughts of the physical consequences, directly into Karl-Anthony Towns—slamming his head on the hardwood.
My man, after his brain reset, was back out there moving at 100mph again.
He and Brandon Miller would’ve been special.
Jalen Brunson is the GOAT
I wrote this article specifically to mock Trey Jemison III and to praise Jalen Brunson’s heroics.
This is not a close game if Jalen Brunson isn’t the steady hand, spinning several plates at once at all times.
I know SGA will be the MVP but what Brunson is doing this season is worthy of celebration. The Knicks are a non-competitive team. Seriously, I fear no one else on this team can even really dribble that well.
Whenever it felt the Knicks were letting go of the rope or the Lakers defense had them in handcuffs, Jalen would miraculously make his way into a paint surrounded by giants, finishing over them when the Knicks desperately needed points on the board.
Unfortunately, the game ended here:
Jalen Brunson headed to the locker room after suffering a leg injury on this play
He stayed in to shoot his FT’s pic.twitter.com/bw4jrE3Uhj
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 7, 2025
Jalen Brunson’s ankle snapped under the enormous weight of carrying Karl-Anthony Towns’s ass to overtime.
He stayed in to take the free throws and walked off to the locker room without assistance so he’ll be fine come playoff time.
Jalen was built on hours of his father, Rick, forcing him to shoot pull ups jumpers all day. It was like child labor but instead of working the ether mines with Cobel for Lumon, Jalen was perfecting his jab step for hours on end.
Brunson will return and he will get his vengeance.
LeBron James vs. Stephen A. Smith
At 900 years old, LeBron is still capable of receiving a pass at halfcourt and sprinting to the hoop, through the chest of any defenders in the way. LeBron had Karl-Anthony Towns in hell all day. He’s like a train, and not in the way DJ Akademics described his relationship with Drake. I just mean he’s strong and fast. No “2 man” game necessary.
But the biggest highlight for LeBron came after the game when he pressed Stephen A. Smith courtside about his coverage of Bronny.
LEBRON WANTS SMOKE WITH STEPHEN A 😳 pic.twitter.com/xsXOLR7ZWi
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) March 7, 2025
Stephen A. Smith is lazy, uninspired and contributes nothing of value to the sports world and LeBron James thinks he should be allowed to force the Lakers to draft his son without anyone questioning his decisions.
We are witnessing two of the largest egos in sports fight over a kid that isn’t good enough to beat out Cam fucking Reddish for minutes.
We are soooo close to being done with them both, I promise.
Key Stats
Luka Doncic: 32 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds, 4-for-12 from 3
LeBron James: 31 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 44 fucking minutes. Jesus.
Austin Reeves: 8 points, 6 rebounds, no assists, 2-for-13 from the field
Jalen Brunson: 39 points, 10 points, 12-for-13 from the free throw line
OG Anunoby: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block
Karl Anthony Towns: 12 points, 14 rebounds, 3-for-13 from the field
The Knicks continue their west coast run immediately on Friday against the Clippers while LA hopes on the PJ for a big Saturday night duel with the Boston Celtics.
Good game. Glad I stayed up to 2am to watch the best player in Knicks franchise history, break under the pressure of dragging bums to an overtime loss against a Lakers team that was gifted one of the best basketball players on planet Earth. V fun Thursdayz.
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