SO MUCH WAS happening behind the scenes on Feb. 1 -- when the Los Angeles Lakers' stunning trade for Luka Doncic was being consummated -- that it was easy to miss what actually happened in the game that night.
The Lakers had defeated the Knicks 128-112 at Madison Square Garden behind a stout defensive effort without their best defensive player, Anthony Davis. The box score offered clues at how they'd done it: Knicks stars Jalen Brunson (16 points on 7-for-18 shooting) and Karl-Anthony Towns (17 on 3-for-12 shooting) had off nights, while role players such as Josh Hart (26 on 11-for-16 shooting) picked up the slack.