The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New York Knicks 122-115 in overtime (OT) at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, avoiding straight losses.

LeBron James came back for the purple and gold after sitting out five games to deal with his knee injury. The 37-year-old dropped a triple-double of 29 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists after playing almost 40 minutes on the floor. He wasn't shooting very from downtown (2-7), but he shot to kill in the paint with 20 points there (10-14).

"After the first quarter, the knee loosened up a lot more, my mind loosened up a lot more and I was able just to play basketball," James said. "Happy I was able to make a few plays to help us win."

"He's doing LeBron type things – efficient from the field; he did what he was supposed to do," Anthony Davis said of his super star teammate. "He's a big part of our team with his voice, leadership and play-making ability. He came back and showed it."

Davis was not giving himself enough credit after his complete dominance on Saturday night. He had a double-double of 28 points after shooting at 13-19 in field goals (FGs), and 17 rebounds that included seven on the offensive glass. Davis was also everywhere defensively delivering three steals and four blocks.

Malik Monk was the third Laker to get incredible stats against the Knicks. He's both the most productive and most accurate 3-point shooter of the team, draining five triples at 50 percent. His 18 points in the third quarter sounded the clarion call for the team's counterstrike as part of the purple and gold's 31-13 run in Q3.

The above three plus Trevor Ariza and Talen Horton-Tucker made the winning squad for the Lakers during OT. Ariza and Horton-Tucker were trusted for their reliable defense and safe dealing with the ball.

Russell Westbrook was ruled out of the Lakers' clutch-time lineup for the same reason. He was 1-10 in FGs to get only five points, four rebounds and six assists with four turnovers. He was benched during OT, but Westbrook accepted it since the team won.

"It's not about me. It's more about the team," he said. "And that's all that matters. ... I don't care about anything as long as we won."

The Knicks had the perfect first half during which they led 71-56. While the whole team was shooting at surprisingly 9-20 behind the arc, they tore the opponents' defense apart with crazy fast break that got the Knicks more than the 19 points recorded on the stats sheet.

However, when the Knicks lost their magic at the 3-point line (2-20) in the second half and OT and failed to stop the Lakers from dominating the offensive rebounds, their offense suffered a dramatic decline. But it's not the most surprising part of the game because the Knicks' offensive rating is the seventh-worst of the league. What really cost them the comfortable lead was their disappointing defense. With Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel in their franchise, there's no excuse for the Knicks to allow 72 points in the paint.

Julius Randle played one of his best-performing games this season by scoring 32 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists. He was joined by R.J. Barrett who got 36 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the 30+point category.

"That's a game we should've won. I felt like overall obviously we played well, but not good enough," Barrett said.

"I liked the start of the game. We probably didn't close out the second quarter as well as we liked," Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. " And then the third quarter was problematic. So, then we had a good fight down the stretch, and didn't get it done."

Other games on Saturday (away teams come first):

Memphis Grizzlies 135-115 Orlando Magic

Miami Heat 104-86 Charlotte Hornets

Phoenix Suns 95-80 Washington Wizards

Milwaukee Bucks 137-108 Portland Trail Blazers

Oklahoma City Thunder 103-113 Sacramento Kings