When the Knicks lost to the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder by three points at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, head coach Mike Brown was pleased with his team’s performance, a sentiment shared in a locker room that had gone toe-to-toe with an NBA juggernaut.
That sentiment shifted drastically following Sunday’s 110-97 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, a game LeBron James sat due to arthritis in his foot and soreness in his elbow. In the wire-to-wire victory, the Lakers led by as many as 23 point, capitalizing on turnovers, offensive rebounds and inexplicable fouls to hand a rolling Knicks team just its sixth loss since Jan. 20 and the second loss of its now-concluded five-game stretch against top-six teams in either Eastern or Western Conference.
“If we did those things, those self-inflicted things, I would be frustrated whatever it is,” Brown, visibly perturbed by his team’s performance, said in his post-game press conference on Sunday. “[The Lakers] had something to do with it. They’re a great team. I don’t want to take anything away from [head coach] JJ [Redick] or the rest of the staff or their players. They earned that win.
“But I thought we had some controllables that we didn’t do a good job of taking care of, and that’s the frustrating part. We didn’t give ourselves much a chance to win the ball game at any point, and that’s what’s frustrating.”
The Knicks hang their hat on being a low-turnover team that dominates the offensive glass, particularly against teams like the Lakers that don’t prioritize rebounding. They turned the ball over 19 times for 21 Los Angeles points on Sunday.
Jalen Brunson finished with 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field to go with seven assists but turned the ball over seven times, often leaving his feet or losing possession of the ball on drives to the rim.
“[Nineteen] turnovers on the road, and this is not a knock on [the Lakers], but they’re not gonna trap and double team and all that stuff. But we get into the paint and jump in the air and turn the ball over,” said Brown. “When I touch the paint, I’ve gotta play off two feet. I can’t jump in the air because when I jump in the air and a defender rotates and takes away the passing lane, or the offensive guy moves, it’s a turnover.”
The Knicks also lost the battle on the offensive glass, 12-10, for 15 Lakers’ second-chance points. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds, and the Knicks won the battle on the boards, 47-42, but Mitchell Robinson didn’t have his typical, dominant impact on the glass and finished with just two offensive rebounds in 17 minutes and four total rebounds on the night.
“Second chance opportunities for 15 points: That’s something we don’t give up. We can’t get beat in that area, and it was due to our inability to put bodies on bodies in boxing out,” said Brown, who noted the Knicks were poor chasing down rebounds on long threes. “If there’s a long shot and the ball goes up, [you’ve] gotta go find a man to box out. [You] can’t turn and walk to the rim and let the ball bounce over my head and just go, ‘ugh next time I’ll get it.’ No. On a long shot, go find a body and box out. We talk about that all the time.”
“That’s the first thing. The second thing? We fouled.”
The Knicks fouled the Lakers 23 times and sent their opponent to the foul line for 30 shots on Sunday. Towns, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges–who went scoreless in 27 minutes–each recorded four fouls, Josh Hart registered three fouls, and Jordan Clarkson, who brought a much-needed scoring spark off the bench, fouled three times in 10 minutes.
The Lakers shot 25-of-30 from the foul line compared to 19 makes on just 21 attempts from the charity strip for the Knicks.
“We got beat off the dribble often. We got beat middle, and being real lazy about it, we reached at the last second and sent them to the free throw line,” said Brown. ” And then lastly, we didn’t take care of the basketball. That’s a recipe to get your behind kicked especially on the road if you’re gonna get beat in second chance points the way we did without boxing out, if you’re gonna reach because you can’t contain the basketball (30 free throws), and then 18 turnovers. That’s a recipe for disaster on the road no matter who you play.”
Brown said he doesn’t want to overreact too much to the loss given the Knicks have played well since mid-January. The Knicks owned a 25-18 record following their Jan. 19 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, which marked their ninth loss in 11 games entering the 2026 calendar year. They are 16-6 ever since and owned the NBA’s best defense over 10 games leading into Lakers game on Sunday.
“Our guys have been playing well. I’m just talking about tonight. And could it linger? Yeah we could take another step back tomorrow, I don’t know. I’m talking about tonight. I did not like the way we played,” he said. “There’s some games you say look they shot the shit out of the ball and it wasn’t our night because we missed some shots. We missed some shots today. I thought we had some good looks that we normally knock down. But to have a hand in losing the game yourself by not taking care of the things that are just effort and locked-in things.”
Next-up, the Knicks play the second leg of a road back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Monday. Judging by Brown’s postgame demeanor, his players know they won’t win many games if they play like they did against the Lakers.
“I’m always direct [with my players]. Whether it’s this game or another game, I’m always direct. There’s nothing to sugarcoat. You just tell the truth,” he said. Asked whether or not his players know where they went wrong on Sunday, Brown responded: “They’re smart. They have a great feel. Yeah [they know].”
