Iztok Franko: Lakers Game Observations: Game 48 @ Knicks

February 2, 2026 at 8:03 am

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

A not-so-subtle hint before the trade deadline

On the one-year anniversary of the most shocking trade in NBA history, one that rocked the league and reshaped the life and outlook of this Substack writer, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers were back on center stage. This time, at Madison Square Garden, the mecca of basketball, against the New York Knicks.

Over the past year, most of us, even if we have not fully forgotten, have moved on. But watching Dončić face his old pal Jalen Brunson, now as a Laker and a Knick, still brings back the what-ifs. It will probably always feel that way. It will never stop being The Showdown That Should’ve Never Happened.

For Dončić and his Lakers, this game was also a reminder that the trade took him a few steps back, from a Mavericks team reshuffled around him for another run at the Finals to a Lakers team that clearly still needs a rebuild. The Lakers played a fairly competitive game, but still fell 112–100 to a deeper, more talented Knicks team.

All is not doom and gloom for the Lakers. At 29–19, they remain firmly in the mix in a very tight Western Conference race. One game remains against the Nets on a prolonged eight-game road trip, and a win would make it a 5–3 trip and a very successful one before an extended homestand.

The team is still waiting for reinforcements. Internally, the return of Austin Reaves, who has now missed his 25th game of the season, is still pending. Externally, help at the trade deadline to kick-start the rebuild and build trust that a clear plan exists would go a long way.

This one’s free! If you enjoy this kind of game breakdown and deadline talk, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today’s notes:

Different teams, different plans, same goal

Shooting was the Lakers’ downfall, and it remains a season-long problem

The Knicks’ team-building model

Fun Spain pick-and-roll hide-and-seek (VIDEO)

LA has two All-Stars, but neither is a Clipper

1-Different teams, different plans, same goal

Dončić and Brunson are two of the league’s most ball-dominant scorers, and it felt like both coaches were preparing for a familiar problem, knowing how hard it is to slow them down once they find a rhythm early.

The Lakers tried to slow Brunson and the Knicks by going to zone defense from the start and sticking with it for most of the game. The Knicks’ plan was to force Dončić to give up the ball by consistently showing two defenders on most of his screens. The Lakers started the game well, with fast and aggressive rotations that kept them in control through the first two periods and limited the Knicks to 52 points at the half. As the game progressed, the Knicks grew more comfortable attacking the Lakers’ unconventional defense, which increasingly kept Los Angeles in scrambling mode. The clearest indicator of both teams trying to force “the other” to beat them was the volume of corner threes. There were 37 taken in this game, the fourth-most in any of the 1,969 games played this season.

2-Shooting was the Lakers’ downfall, and it remains a season-long problem

The defensive plans largely worked, as both stars were held below their scoring averages, although Dončić, with 30 points, came much closer than Brunson, who was limited to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Last night, the difference was the supporting casts and their ability to convert open threes. The Knicks punished the Lakers, hitting 11 of 23 corner threes and shooting 43 percent overall from deep. The Lakers, meanwhile, managed just 2 of 14 from the corners and 12 of 42 overall from three.

Tonight both teams had 42 three-point attempts:

– NYK shot 43%, or 64% eFG, +10 above expected
-LAL shot 29%, or 43% eFG, -11 below expected

NYK made 6 more trees, a +18 margin on 3s.
Iztok Franko @iztok_franko
Three-point shooting has been Lakers problem all season…esp with Smart, LaRavia starting and Vando playing a bigger roles in the rotation.

Smart at 32.6%, LaRavia 32.7%, Vando 30.3%.
Three-point shooting has been a well-chronicled problem in this space. The Lakers have rough nights surviving when both starters, Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart, cannot punish defenses collapsing around Dončić and LeBron James. They combined to shoot just 2 of 10 from three. The spacing when Jarred Vanderbilt, who went 0 for 3 from three, is on the floor, especially when paired with another non-shooting center, has been another well-documented problem.

Another problem this season has also been James, who shot above 40 percent on catch-and-shoot threes in the previous two seasons, struggling to convert. He is making just 33 percent of his spot-up threes and has passed up several open looks in recent games.

LeBron has been great catch and shoot three-point shooter in prior two seasons. He made 42% of them last season, and 45% in 23-24.

He is 24 of 72, 33% so far this season. Hopefully, his shot will come around in the second half of the season.

Jason Timpf @_JasonLT

LeBron has to be a more willing catch and shoot player. He’s passed on several good looks.

This roster is so devoid of catch and shoot talent, and LeBron has a strong recent track record there. He can’t *also* be one of the half dozen Lakers who doesn’t want to shoot.
Apart from athleticism, the lack of shooting has been one of the most evident roster deficiencies this season and needs to be addressed.

3-The Knicks’ team-building model

With the trade deadline just a couple of days away, recent games have felt even more like roster evaluation and reflection exercises (NOTE: If you missed my first deadline team-building deep dive, check it out here). Last night, the difference in three-and-D options around Brunson, compared to what the Lakers currently have, was impossible to miss.

Yes, Josh Hart had an outlier shooting night, going 3 of 4 from three, while Landry Shamet shredded the Lakers’ zone, hitting 6 of his 10 three-point attempts. However, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are the prototype of the modern two-way wing the Lakers so desperately need around Dončić. Both have great length and are strong defenders, with Anunoby being elite on that end. Both have also made more than 200 corner threes over the last three seasons, converting at over 40 percent. Even Josh Hart, who has a reputation as a high-motor, hustle and glue player but a shaky shooter, has converted 36 percent of his corner looks.

The Knicks also feature two very different big men, each elite in their own way. Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the league’s best shooting bigs and a lethal pick-and-pop partner for Brunson, providing the spacing their star guard needs to operate. His alternative, Mitchell Robinson, may be the best offensive rebounder in the game, punishing switching or scrambling defenses by dominating the glass. Robinson had a relatively quiet night by his standards, with only three offensive rebounds, but was still a big part of the reason the Knicks won the possession battle.

The Knicks’ shooting, along with being a top-five offensive rebounding team, explains why they rank as a top-three offense, while the Lakers are only seventh, despite having the better main engine.

4-Fun Spain pick-and-roll hide-and-seek (VIDEO)

Spain, or stack pick-and-roll, is a double-screening action with a ball screen in the middle of the floor and a guard setting a back screen on the ball screener’s defender before popping to the top of the key. It is one of the most basic and popular actions in the NBA, and for a long time, one of Dončić’s favorites.

Last night, Dončić and the Lakers ran this action on three consecutive possessions to target Robinson and Towns, neither of whom is the most mobile defender, or in Towns’ case, the most attentive. On the first possession, Robinson closed out on Dončić, but the Knicks did not want to leave the big man on an island. Hart doubled, which left Gabe Vincent open for a three at the top of the key.

On the next two possessions, Dončić toyed with Towns, snaking and rejecting the screens to create an easy layup for himself and a lob for Vanderbilt. The problem on the last play was that Dončić mistook Vanderbilt for Derrick Jones Jr., and what should’ve been a dunk turned into a turnover. Another reminder of how important it is to surround Dončić with athletes.

5-LA has two All-Stars, but neither is a Clipper

This game also came on the night the NBA announced its All-Star reserves. LeBron James was the final name revealed, adding yet another All-Star selection to his record as the league’s oldest player.

Making his 22nd NBA All-Star appearance… LeBron James of the @Lakers.

Drafted as the 1st pick in 2003 out of Akron, Ohio, @KingJames is averaging 21.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 6.6 APG for the Lakers this season.

James was, in a way, a surprising but also not-so-surprising selection, given his stature in the league and among coaches, and the incredible level of play he continues to sustain even at 41 years old. His selection also came with a bit of controversy, as it was seen by some as coming at the expense of Alperen Sengun, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, who were among the most notable snubs.

I am not your usual NBA conspiracy theorist, but none of the Clippers making the All-Star team, with the game scheduled as part of the promotion around the Intuit Dome, felt like another awkward twist in what has already been a strange season for the other Los Angeles team. A season also marked by the ongoing controversy and the lawsuit in which Steve Ballmer is being sued by 11 investors for allegedly using Aspiration to secretly pay Leonard and circumvent the NBA salary cap.

Comments

LakerTom says

February 2, 2026 at 8:03 am

FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:

A not-so-subtle hint before the trade deadline

On the one-year anniversary of the most shocking trade in NBA history, one that rocked the league and reshaped the life and outlook of this Substack writer, Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers were back on center stage. This time, at Madison Square Garden, the mecca of basketball, against the New York Knicks.

Over the past year, most of us, even if we have not fully forgotten, have moved on. But watching Dončić face his old pal Jalen Brunson, now as a Laker and a Knick, still brings back the what-ifs. It will probably always feel that way. It will never stop being The Showdown That Should’ve Never Happened.

For Dončić and his Lakers, this game was also a reminder that the trade took him a few steps back, from a Mavericks team reshuffled around him for another run at the Finals to a Lakers team that clearly still needs a rebuild. The Lakers played a fairly competitive game, but still fell 112–100 to a deeper, more talented Knicks team.

All is not doom and gloom for the Lakers. At 29–19, they remain firmly in the mix in a very tight Western Conference race. One game remains against the Nets on a prolonged eight-game road trip, and a win would make it a 5–3 trip and a very successful one before an extended homestand.

The team is still waiting for reinforcements. Internally, the return of Austin Reaves, who has now missed his 25th game of the season, is still pending. Externally, help at the trade deadline to kick-start the rebuild and build trust that a clear plan exists would go a long way.

This one’s free! If you enjoy this kind of game breakdown and deadline talk, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today’s notes:

Different teams, different plans, same goal

Shooting was the Lakers’ downfall, and it remains a season-long problem

The Knicks’ team-building model

Fun Spain pick-and-roll hide-and-seek (VIDEO)

LA has two All-Stars, but neither is a Clipper

1-Different teams, different plans, same goal

Dončić and Brunson are two of the league’s most ball-dominant scorers, and it felt like both coaches were preparing for a familiar problem, knowing how hard it is to slow them down once they find a rhythm early.

The Lakers tried to slow Brunson and the Knicks by going to zone defense from the start and sticking with it for most of the game. The Knicks’ plan was to force Dončić to give up the ball by consistently showing two defenders on most of his screens. The Lakers started the game well, with fast and aggressive rotations that kept them in control through the first two periods and limited the Knicks to 52 points at the half. As the game progressed, the Knicks grew more comfortable attacking the Lakers’ unconventional defense, which increasingly kept Los Angeles in scrambling mode. The clearest indicator of both teams trying to force “the other” to beat them was the volume of corner threes. There were 37 taken in this game, the fourth-most in any of the 1,969 games played this season.

2-Shooting was the Lakers’ downfall, and it remains a season-long problem

The defensive plans largely worked, as both stars were held below their scoring averages, although Dončić, with 30 points, came much closer than Brunson, who was limited to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Last night, the difference was the supporting casts and their ability to convert open threes. The Knicks punished the Lakers, hitting 11 of 23 corner threes and shooting 43 percent overall from deep. The Lakers, meanwhile, managed just 2 of 14 from the corners and 12 of 42 overall from three.

Tonight both teams had 42 three-point attempts:

– NYK shot 43%, or 64% eFG, +10 above expected
-LAL shot 29%, or 43% eFG, -11 below expected

NYK made 6 more trees, a +18 margin on 3s.
Iztok Franko @iztok_franko
Three-point shooting has been Lakers problem all season…esp with Smart, LaRavia starting and Vando playing a bigger roles in the rotation.

Smart at 32.6%, LaRavia 32.7%, Vando 30.3%.
Three-point shooting has been a well-chronicled problem in this space. The Lakers have rough nights surviving when both starters, Jake LaRavia and Marcus Smart, cannot punish defenses collapsing around Dončić and LeBron James. They combined to shoot just 2 of 10 from three. The spacing when Jarred Vanderbilt, who went 0 for 3 from three, is on the floor, especially when paired with another non-shooting center, has been another well-documented problem.

Another problem this season has also been James, who shot above 40 percent on catch-and-shoot threes in the previous two seasons, struggling to convert. He is making just 33 percent of his spot-up threes and has passed up several open looks in recent games.

LeBron has been great catch and shoot three-point shooter in prior two seasons. He made 42% of them last season, and 45% in 23-24.

He is 24 of 72, 33% so far this season. Hopefully, his shot will come around in the second half of the season.

Jason Timpf @_JasonLT

LeBron has to be a more willing catch and shoot player. He’s passed on several good looks.

This roster is so devoid of catch and shoot talent, and LeBron has a strong recent track record there. He can’t *also* be one of the half dozen Lakers who doesn’t want to shoot.
Apart from athleticism, the lack of shooting has been one of the most evident roster deficiencies this season and needs to be addressed.

3-The Knicks’ team-building model

With the trade deadline just a couple of days away, recent games have felt even more like roster evaluation and reflection exercises (NOTE: If you missed my first deadline team-building deep dive, check it out here). Last night, the difference in three-and-D options around Brunson, compared to what the Lakers currently have, was impossible to miss.

Yes, Josh Hart had an outlier shooting night, going 3 of 4 from three, while Landry Shamet shredded the Lakers’ zone, hitting 6 of his 10 three-point attempts. However, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges are the prototype of the modern two-way wing the Lakers so desperately need around Dončić. Both have great length and are strong defenders, with Anunoby being elite on that end. Both have also made more than 200 corner threes over the last three seasons, converting at over 40 percent. Even Josh Hart, who has a reputation as a high-motor, hustle and glue player but a shaky shooter, has converted 36 percent of his corner looks.

The Knicks also feature two very different big men, each elite in their own way. Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the league’s best shooting bigs and a lethal pick-and-pop partner for Brunson, providing the spacing their star guard needs to operate. His alternative, Mitchell Robinson, may be the best offensive rebounder in the game, punishing switching or scrambling defenses by dominating the glass. Robinson had a relatively quiet night by his standards, with only three offensive rebounds, but was still a big part of the reason the Knicks won the possession battle.

The Knicks’ shooting, along with being a top-five offensive rebounding team, explains why they rank as a top-three offense, while the Lakers are only seventh, despite having the better main engine.

4-Fun Spain pick-and-roll hide-and-seek (VIDEO)

Spain, or stack pick-and-roll, is a double-screening action with a ball screen in the middle of the floor and a guard setting a back screen on the ball screener’s defender before popping to the top of the key. It is one of the most basic and popular actions in the NBA, and for a long time, one of Dončić’s favorites.

Last night, Dončić and the Lakers ran this action on three consecutive possessions to target Robinson and Towns, neither of whom is the most mobile defender, or in Towns’ case, the most attentive. On the first possession, Robinson closed out on Dončić, but the Knicks did not want to leave the big man on an island. Hart doubled, which left Gabe Vincent open for a three at the top of the key.

On the next two possessions, Dončić toyed with Towns, snaking and rejecting the screens to create an easy layup for himself and a lob for Vanderbilt. The problem on the last play was that Dončić mistook Vanderbilt for Derrick Jones Jr., and what should’ve been a dunk turned into a turnover. Another reminder of how important it is to surround Dončić with athletes.

5-LA has two All-Stars, but neither is a Clipper

This game also came on the night the NBA announced its All-Star reserves. LeBron James was the final name revealed, adding yet another All-Star selection to his record as the league’s oldest player.

Making his 22nd NBA All-Star appearance… LeBron James of the @Lakers.

Drafted as the 1st pick in 2003 out of Akron, Ohio, @KingJames is averaging 21.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG and 6.6 APG for the Lakers this season.

James was, in a way, a surprising but also not-so-surprising selection, given his stature in the league and among coaches, and the incredible level of play he continues to sustain even at 41 years old. His selection also came with a bit of controversy, as it was seen by some as coming at the expense of Alperen Sengun, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard, who were among the most notable snubs.

I am not your usual NBA conspiracy theorist, but none of the Clippers making the All-Star team, with the game scheduled as part of the promotion around the Intuit Dome, felt like another awkward twist in what has already been a strange season for the other Los Angeles team. A season also marked by the ongoing controversy and the lawsuit in which Steve Ballmer is being sued by 11 investors for allegedly using Aspiration to secretly pay Leonard and circumvent the NBA salary cap.

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