Luka Doncic scored 35 points as the Los Angeles Lakers weathered some shaky moments in the fourth quarter, along with LeBron James sitting out, and recorded a wire-to-wire 110-97 victory over the visiting New York Knicks yesterday (Philippine time).

James sat out with a bruised left elbow he sustained in the loss to the Denver Nuggets when he absorbed contact from Nikola Jokic.

Without James, Doncic scored 14 points in the third quarter when the Lakers outscored the Knicks, 34-20, turning a 68-61 lead into an 88-69 advantage entering the fourth.

The Lakers slumped for most of the quarter until the final minutes. They missed 10 straight shots until Doncic banked in a layup for a 104-91 lead with 2:34 left and the star guard capped the scoring with another three with 65 seconds left.

Austin Reaves added 25 and had a pair of key defensive plays against Jalen Brunson in the final minutes. Rui Hachimura started for James again and contributed 13, while reserve Luke Kennard chipped in 12 as the Lakers shot 43.2 percent, including 7-for-24 in the fourth.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 25 points, including 11 in the fourth, to go along with 16 rebounds. Brunson added 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

Doncic scored 12 points in the opening quarter, which ended with the Lakers taking a 31-23 lead when Kennard sank a corner three with 13.9 seconds left.

Los Angeles missed nine consecutive shots before Reaves beat the buzzer with an off-balance five-footer for a 54-49 lead at halftime. Los Angeles used a 12-2 run to build a 68-56 lead on a three by Reaves and allowed the lead to shrink to seven on a basket by Hart less than a minute later before rallying again. (Field Level Media / Reuters)