Before the game against the New York Knicks on December 19, the Los Angeles Lakers celebrated their historic In-Season Tournament championship. The Lakers hung the championship flag from the ceiling of the Crypto.com Arena. This celebration was no less solemn than winning an official NBA tournament.

In addition to the championship flag, the Lakers’ celebration became even more spectacular, when the match organizers showed a video summarizing the proud undefeated journey of LeBron James and his teammates to conquer the In-Season Tournament gold cup.

However, the joy was not complete, when the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a bitter defeat on the day they “showed off” the championship flag to their fans. LeBron James and his teammates were only 5 points behind, when they lost to the New York Knicks with a final score of 109-114.

As usual, Anthony Davis and LeBron James were still the brightest stars of the team. Anthony Davis scored 30 points and 14 rebounds. Meanwhile, LeBron James, who is nearly 40 years old, still played the most minutes on the team (39 minutes), scored 25 points, had 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. However, the brilliance of Davis and LeBron was not enough to help the Lakers win.

As of now, the Los Angeles Lakers are ranked 8th in the NBA Western Conference standings.