Lakers vs. Knicks Preview and Game Thread: Annual MSG visit

With Anthony Davis out, the Lakers look to pull off a massive upset against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

The Lakers will make their annual visit to the Garden where they will take on the New York Knicks for the first time this season. This will be the last East Coast stop scheduled for the Lakers’ current Grammy road trip and the fifth game in seven nights.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. New York Knicks

When: 5:30 PST, Feb 1.

Where: Madison Square Garden

Watch: ABC

There’s no sugarcoating it: The Lakers are going to be massive underdogs on the road against the Knicks on Saturday night. Even if Anthony Davis was healthy and going to suit up for this one, L.A. would still be in for a tough matchup. So now with The Brow expected to be out, suffice it to say that this already feels like an expected scheduled loss.

I don’t want to be all pessimistic in this preview so what we can do is root for the purple and gold to pull off a massive upset. For that to happen, they should carry over their performance from their most dominant victory of the season against the Washington Wizards last Thursday. JJ Redick said that happened because L.A. played angry so perhaps that’s an ideal approach to have as well against the streaking Knicks.

The Knicks are currently on a five-game winning streak and are easily the hottest team in the Eastern Conference. With a healthy roster, they’ve been flourishing thanks to their offense, which ranks second best in the league. They average 117.9 points per game and get enough stops with their above-average defense. They have enough size and athleticism to give the Lakers a ton of problems. They also convert their three-point attempts at a high rate (37.9%).

With AD out, the Lakers’ biggest problem will be Karl Anthony-Towns who averages 24.6 points and 13.7 rebounds per game. It’s going to be a tough ask for Jaxson Hayes to contain KAT, so it would be nice if Los Angeles can get a big game out of LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves or even Max Christie to make up for that.

L.A. needs to outshoot and outrebound the Knicks if they want a chance in this one. Their defense needs to be sharp especially since the Knicks play team basketball and get contributions from across the board.

Hopefully, the Lakers will put up a fight throughout the game that will turn this one into a close finish or better yet, an opportunity for them to steal this win. They’ve had a great road trip and pulling off an upset victory at the Garden would be the icing on the cake. Let’s see if the Lakers can do just that on Saturday.

Notes and Updates

• For the Lakers’ injury report, Rui Hachimura (left calf soreness) and LeBron James (left foot injury management) are probable.
• Dorian Finney-Smith (right shoulder contusion) and Gabe Vincent (left knee contusion) are questionable. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis (abdominal muscle strain), Jalen Hood-Schifino (left hamstring strain) and Christian Wood (left knee surgery recovery) are out.
• Pacome Dadiet (great toe sprain) and Mitchell Robinson (left ankle surgery) are out while Josh Hart (right knee soreness) is questionable.
• We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.