LOS ANGELES - The Knicks staged a storybook in the first half, collapsed in the second, were forced to work overtime by rising from the dead, and still lost in a rollercoaster contest to the Lakers on Saturday.
RJ Barrett forced a dramatic 3-pointer to overtime with 8.3 seconds and finished with a career-high 36 points, but the Lakers pulled out the win 122-115 at the newly designated Crypto.com Arena.
The Knicks couldn't steal the thunder from LeBron James' triple-double return, even after overcoming their second-half nightmare.
The Knicks went stone cold in overtime - shooting just 2-for-11 - after Barrett brought them back from a nine-point deficit.
Barrett even defended James for a good part of the night - an assignment he requested.
"It's a game we should have won," Barrett said. "To come out the way we did, 71 points in the first half. Over 20 in the first half. Losing is a tough game. I thought overall we obviously played well but weren't good enough.
James, having missed the last five games with knee issues, easily returned to nationally televised competition, the team he loves to torture and a triple-double - 29 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.
Still, Barrett said he wanted to take up the James challenge.
"I was trying to get everyone to figure out which [assistant coach] scout was so I could tell him I wanted to protect him," Barrett said. "It was a tough matchup. He's very smart. And physically he's really strong. Sometimes it's hard to stop him while driving."
After beating the Lakers in the first half with the dominance of Julius Randall and Barrett taking a 21-point lead, the Knicks came to pieces in the third quarter when they went 31-13.
"The third quarter was problematic," said Tom Thibodeau. "Then we had a good fight down the stretch. And didn't. There's always good and bad in every game. My concern is that we have to make it."
But after falling behind by eight points in the fourth quarter, the Knicks suddenly resurfaced. Malik Monk missed a jumper and the Knicks ran down, Ivan Fournier feeding Barrett, who drilled a game-tying 3-pointer, leaving it in 111-111 with 8.7 seconds.
Despite the late heroics, they still lost the season-worst five games at 24-29 under .500, kicking off a make-or-break for the Western Tour.
Randall finished with 32 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. There were moments but just not enough.
"Just imagine if we play as fast as we can, we compete like we do, especially in the first half I think we can win and beat anyone," Randley said. "We competed defensively in the first half, going down. We haven't been off to a consistently great start all year, so we can build on that. We just have to keep it up."
The disappointing Lakers (26-28) had all their Big 3 healthy and Anthony Davis was a formidable presence, racking up 28 points and 16 rebounds. Monk crushed the Knicks to 29 points to make up for a dud game by Russell Westbrook (five points, 1-for-10 off the field).
It looked like it would become a statement win and instead disintegrated into a huge drop for the Knicks because of all the promises the contest showed five days before the trading deadline.
The fall of the second half was capped when Davis stole a rebound from Robinson and sank it for an 80-79 lead - the Lakers' first - with 4:40 left in the third. It started 25-7 in the second half.
After Westbrook blocked two free throws with less than a minute in regulation, Alec Burks had a chance to bring the Knicks to within a point, but dropped a 3-pointer from the corner with 52.1 seconds left.
It was painful as Randall cooled down and then fell into the baseline as a cameraman sat down. Randall grabbed his shoulder before shooting a free throw. He later received a technical glitch for shouting from the bench with 28.9 seconds left in the third quarter.
Randall and Barrett scored 20 and 21 points, respectively, in an explosive first half, but calmed down after halftime.
The Knicks held on to a season-high for points in the first quarter with 41. He put himself on the line for a 71-56 lead at halftime. They took an 11-0 lead at the start and kept it halfway.