The Lakers had one of the front-runners for MVP along with arguably the best ever on the court.
But the Knicks had far more depth, beyond their own two All-Stars.
Advantage: depth.
Games like this are what the Knicks envisioned when they built the supporting cast around Jalen Brunson.
They had six players score in double digits as they beat the Lakers 112-100 Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, extending their win streak to six.
There were four total All-Stars on the floor in Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Luka Doncic and LeBron James.
But it was a trio of non-All-Stars in OG Anunoby, Landry Shamet and Josh Hart who made the biggest difference.
“That’s what we’re capable of,” Hart said. “We have great depth, we have guys who can knock down shots, guys that can playmake. It’s not always gonna be JB or KAT’s night, but we have enough guys to score points. It shows that we don’t have to force anything.”
It wasn’t Brunson or Towns, who was named an All-Star reserve earlier Sunday, who led the Knicks in scoring.
OG Anunoby dunks the ball during the Knicks’ Feb. 1 win against the Lakers. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
It was Anunoby who carried that load for large stretches of the game, finishing with 25 points.
His offensive rebound and subsequent dunk put the Knicks up 12 with just under three minutes left, pretty much putting the game away.
Next up was Landry Shamet off the bench, going off for 23 points, his second-highest scoring game of the season.
He drilled six 3-pointers.
After that it was Josh Hart, with one of his finest showings of the season.
He added 20 points and went 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
Towns — who didn’t fill up the stat sheet, but was a game-best plus-23 — had 11 and Mikal Bridges had 10.
Sunday was the third straight game Anunoby and Hart, who entered averaging 16.2 and 12.3 points, respectively, have scored 20 or more points
Jalen Brunson makes a pass during the Knicks’ Feb. 1 win over the Lakers. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
It allowed Brunson, who was struggling with his shot, to become more of a distributor.
He had just 12 points on 4-for-15 shooting but recorded a season-high 13 assists.
He added seven rebounds as well, nearly recording the first triple-double of his career.
“Shots not falling, you gotta impact the game somewhere else,” Brunson said. “I kept seeing two [defenders], so I was just trying to make the right play at the right time and we were getting good looks. Just gonna play the defense how they were playing. They were knocking shots down. The way we were moving the ball was great.”
LeBron James reacts during the Lakers’ Feb. 1 loss to the Knicks. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
This Knicks resurgence of late had largely come on the back of a dramatic defensive turnaround.
They had little answer for Doncic, though hardly any team has this season.
He recorded 30 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.
But the Knicks were stout defensively elsewhere, holding the Lakers to 28.6 percent shooting from 3-point range.
James, in what could possibly have been his last game at MSG, had 22 points, six assists and five rebounds.
He had a vintage alley-oop dunk in the third quarter, but he did not overly hurt the Knicks.
Notably, Doncic and James combined for just eight points in the fourth quarter.
It is the fifth time in this winning streak the Knicks held their opponent to 100 points or fewer.
“Second half, we locked in better with the gameplan,” coach Mike Brown said. “It resulted in the Lakers scoring 44 points in that second half, which was huge for us.”
The Knicks went into halftime down four, but began the second half with an 18-9 run to take a five-point lead before the Lakers called timeout.
On back-to-back possessions in that run, Towns corralled an offensive rebound and followed it with a putback.
An aggressive Tyler Kolek provided a spark off the bench with eight points, though forced some ill-advised shots during a stint in the fourth quarter.
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Both teams are near the bottom in the league in bench scoring, but it was a clear Knicks advantage on Wednesday.
They had an 11-point advantage in that department.
“It’s gonna be someone different every night,” Shamet said. “We know that and we have a group who’s bought into that. It’s about all of us buying in and doing what we can on a night-to-night basis, knowing it might look a little bit different.
Landry Shamet hits a 3-pointer during the Knicks’ Feb. 1 win over the Lakers. Jason Szenes for the NY Post
“We got a locker room full of guys who want to win and are willing to sacrifice for one another.”
This was by far the biggest test yet of whether the Knicks have truly turned a corner.
They passed with flying colors.
Tickets were historically expensive, with fans wanting to see James and Doncic and one of the premier franchises in the sport.
But it was the Knicks role players who stole the show.