LeBron James drops triple-double in return from injury, leads Lakers past Knicks

LeBron James’ knee seems to be just fine.

After missing five straight games with left knee soreness, James returned for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night to lead them to a 122-115 overtime win over the New York Knicks.

James picked up his 103rd career triple-double in the win at Crypto.com Arena after scoring 29 points with 13 rebounds and 10 assists in 40 minutes. He led the Lakers out of a 21-point first-half hole, too, which marked their largest comeback win of the season.

Knicks blow 21-point lead in LeBron James' return

The Knicks dominated in the first half after opening the night with a massive 21-6 run. R.J. Barrett dropped 17 of his career-high 36 points in the opening quarter, and it looked like it was going to be a long game for James and the Lakers.

Something must have clicked at halftime, though, as the Lakers found their rhythm coming out of the break. They outscored the Knicks 31-13 in the third period and took their very first lead of the night.

Though the Lakers built up an eight point lead in the fourth, their largest of the game, Barrett tied things back up with less than 10 seconds to go after a huge contested dunk and then a wild 3-pointer.

James had one final look to win the game, but his shot was off the mark — which sent the contest into overtime.

The Lakers rolled in overtime easily after opening the extra time on a 9-2 run. From there they just held on to grab the seven-point win, their second in three games.

Anthony Davis finished the night with 26 points and 17 rebounds in the win for Los Angeles, and Malik Monk added 29 points. Though they got the win, Russell Westbrook’s shooting woes continued. Westbrook scored just five points and shot 1-of-10 from the field.

Julius Randle finished with 32 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists for the Knicks to go with Barrett's 36 points. Barrett also finished with eight rebounds and five assists. LeBron James’ knee seems to be just fine.

James missed the Lakers’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last week after he apparently woke up that morning with soreness in his knee. It’s still not clear what caused it specifically, though James missed the Lakers’ next four games dealing with it. He even flew home from their road trip early in order to go get treatment on it in Los Angeles.

James was averaging 29.1 points per game so far this season headed into Saturday’s game with the Knicks, which is the highest output he’s had since the 2009-10 season and the highest in the league. Both Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo are within just 0.2 points or less from him, however, and both have played significantly more games.

James is also averaging 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 36 games this season. Before he went out, James had gone 18 straight games scoring at least 25 points.