WITH superstar LeBron James suspended and Anthony Davis sick, the Los Angeles Lakers already had big problems. Then they created one more for themselves by falling into a 25-point hole.

“We weren’t playing hard enough. Simple,” Russell Westbrook said.

They turned it around but the New York Knicks recovered, with Evan Fournier scoring 26 points and Immanuel Quickley adding 12 of his 14 in the fourth quarter for a 106-100 victory Tuesday night.

Julius Randle added 20 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for the Knicks, but sat for eight minutes of the fourth quarter after picking up his fifth foul. Quickley made sure that didn’t matter, hitting four 3-pointers in the period.

“He’s fearless,” Randle said.

Westbrook had 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, with 18 points in a sensational third quarter that helped Los Angeles tie the game. But with Carmelo Anthony’s shot off in his old home, the Lakers never could take the lead.

They beat Detroit on Sunday after overcoming a 17-point deficit in the game James was ejected from for striking Pistons center Isaiah Stewart in the face and drawing blood. The NBA suspended the superstar forward for one game.

But the best Los Angeles could do in this one was tie it twice after New York dominated most of the first two quarters.

“No team wants to come out down 10-0, but it’s a long game and we fought back and gave ourselves a chance,” Westbrook said.

Davis, who woke up with a fever, had 20 points on 7-for-17 shooting. He said he arrived only about 45 minutes before the game and didn’t have his usual warmup.

“So I definitely think that he was a little bit drained and we used him differently,” coach Frank Vogel said.

(SD-Agencies)