LOS ANGELES — It was exquisite weather in sunny California — 85 degrees, no clouds — and the Knicks offense took most of the afternoon off.
Misfiring early and until it was too late in the fourth quarter, Jalen Brunson’s squad finished a brickfest defeat to the LeBron-less Lakers 110-97 while getting torched by Luka Doncic on the other end.
Mikal Bridges lowlighted the struggles with zero points in 27 minutes, although his ugly stat line was more a product of passivity (he only took six shots) than rampant inefficiency.
The rest of the Knicks took care of the misses. They shot, as a team, just 23.5 percent on 34 3-point attempts.
They committed 17 turnovers, with Brunson, in particular, getting sloppy.
The point guard, who had been adopting more of a facilitator role lately, scored 24 points in 42 minutes but largely struggled, recording seven assists against six turnovers.
His missed runner with just over three minutes remaining — with the Knicks trailing by 11 — probably did it.
If not, Brunson’s miss on the following possession was the final nail in the coffin — or perhaps his turnover about a minute later.
The Knicks (41-24) arrived at Crypto.com Arena with a fully healthy roster and coming off a dominant win in Denver, a 39-point blowout headlined by OG Anunoby’s two-way masterpiece.
Anunoby’s follow-up in Los Angeles was a ho-hum 13 points, while failing frequently at guarding Doncic (35 points, eight assists).
The Lakers (39-25) were missing LeBron James, who was a late scratch because of a lingering foot issue.
It might’ve been LeBron’s last chance to play the Knicks as a Laker, and maybe ever depending on his retirement decision.
He watched in the afternoon victory in street clothes on the bench.
The Knicks misfired early, making just one of their first 12 treys as they fell in a 13-point hole midway through the second quarter.
They never really recovered, trailing for all of the final three quarters.
