KING MARIO
Hezonja rejects LeBron’s final shot to lift Knicks over Lakers
In the end, it came down to Mario Hezonja against LeBron James. And the underdog won. Hezonja, playing for the first time in five weeks, locked up James down the stretch and blocked his potential gamewinner in the final seconds of the Knicks’ thrilling victory over the Lakers on Sunday afternoon, 124-123. It snapped the Knicks’ eight-game losing streak.
On a night James was called out by Walt Frazier for his dispassionate leadership – “he doesn’t really care,” the Knicks legend said on the MSG telecast – ‘The King’ absolutely flubbed the fourth quarter. He missed 11 of his 15 shot attempts in those final 12 minutes, including four straight with less than 90 seconds left.
Hezonja’s block arrived on a one-onone matchup as James held the ball for the final shot. There was help awaiting under the basket in the form of DeAndre Jordan, which is why James attempted a weak fade-away just outside of the paint.
Hezonja got the clean rejection as James descended on the jumper. He then stared down James. Normally outspokenly disagreeable with the refs, James didn’t even try to plead his case. He just darted out of the Garden.
“Great defense by Mario,” James said. “That’s it.”
Hezonja hadn’t played in 12 straight games because of injuries and DNPCDs. His assignment Sunday – which developed from a surprise starting role because of Noah Vonleh’s injury — was exhausting James by picking him full court when he had the ball.
Now the Croatian can add James to a list of highlight victims that also includes Giannis Antetokounmpo (Hezonja dunked on the Greek Freak and stepped over him earlier in the season).
“I hope (I wore him down). If I didn’t, then I didn’t do a good job,” Hezonja said. “I hope I did because I was picking him full court for the entire game. I mean, he has two great point guards that can take a load off him. Anytime he was with the ball, I was trying to get him tired. It was an early game (noon tipoff ) and it’s a weird schedule. So, if he wasn’t tired, I know he’s a monster, and I didn’t do a good job.”
James still finished with a game-high 33 points, but required 26 shot attempts to get there. The Lakers (31-39) went scoreless in the final two minutes – blowing a 7-point lead in the process – as James missed four shots in that stretch.
The Knicks (14-56) completed their two-game season sweep of the Lakers while winning at the Garden for just the third time since Dec. 1. Hezonja added 17 points to his clutch block. Damyean Dotson (25 points), Emmanuel Mudiay (28 points, eight assists) and DeAndre Jordan (15 points, 17 rebounds, 7 assists) stuffed the box score.
“It was just a great way to win in the Garden,” rookie Kevin Knox said. “The last 10 seconds, you’ve got one of the best players to ever play the game and we get a defensive stop and the crowd’s standing up yelling. It was a good way to get a win.”