The West Coast meets the East Coast this Saturday night with the Los Angeles Lakers facing off against the New York Knicks in a marquee NBA showdown at Madison Square Garden.
That meeting has been generating lots of buzz, with Los Angeles head coach JJ Redick adding more fuel to the excitement, saying how much he used to look forward to playing at the “Mecca of Basketball.”
“I’m juiced right now,” Redick said ahead of the Lakers clash versus the Knicks (h/t Dave McMenamin of ESPN.)
“We’re all juiced right now. It’s Lakers-Knicks on a Saturday night. Like, c’mon. There’s nothing better. I’m juiced. And every time I played in Madison Square Garden, I was juiced. My favorite place to play,” added Redick, who played numerous times at Madison Square Garden during his 15-year playing career in the NBA.
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The Lakers will enter the New York game with some momentum. After losing to one of Redick's former teams last Tuesday when the Lakers fell prey to the Philadelphia 76ers, 118-104, the Lakers returned to the win column by blasting the lowly Washington Wizards on Thursday, 134-96. The Lakers' trip to New York is also the penultimate leg of the Lakers' six-game road trip that will end on Tuesday versus the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood.
One thing to note about the Lakers for this Knicks matchup is that they won't have one of their key weapons, with superstar big man Anthony Davis still sidelined with an abdominal strain he suffered in the loss to the 76ers. He also missed the date with Washington. Davis' absence could mean more responsibility for the ageless LeBron James, who has averaged 25.7 points, 9.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 53.8 percent from the field in the Lakers' last three games.
Davis' absence is a big plus for the Knicks, who are on a roll. New York lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 116-99, on Jan. 17, and since then, the Knicks have stitched together five wins in a row. That includes their 122-112 takedown of Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets at home on Wednesday.
The Lakers are fifth in the NBA's western conference standings with a 27-19 record.
