LOS ANGELES — In an 82-game marathon that is the NBA regular season, it isn’t realistic for a team to play up to their standard for every minute of each matchup.

But teams who typically end up finishing the season toward the top of the standings aren’t just the ones that consistently play at a high level. They’re also the ones that find ways to pull out victories even when they don’t feel like they’re playing their best basketball.

The latter is where the Lakers (40-21) have found themselves over their ongoing winning streak, which reached a season-high eight games after Thursday’s thrilling overtime victory over the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena.

And Thursday was just the latest example for the Lakers, whose winning streak is their longest since winning nine straight from Dec. 28, 2019, to Jan. 13, 2020.

“I don’t think we played good (on Thursday),” Lakers star Luka Doncic said postgame. “Especially for the first three quarters, I don’t think we played good. So that (shows) the whole group together, everybody cheering for each other and we gave each other a push that we need to win.”

The Lakers struggled on both ends early against the Knicks, who presented the biggest threat to the Lakers’ streak that started with a road win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 20.

The defensive energy and communication that have become the standard for the Laker over the past several weeks weren’t present early, leading to the Knicks scoring 60 first-half points.

The Lakers also missed 20 of their first 27 3-pointers, contributing to their 13-point deficit in the third quarter and them trailing by 10 midway through the fourth.

But they buckled down defensively in the second half, playing to the standard that led to them having the league’s best defensive rating for nearly two months. They held the Knicks to 15 points in the fourth quarter.

And when they needed them most, their 3-point shots fell, taking advantage of their defensive stops. The Lakers shot 7 for 15 from long range in the fourth and overtime.

“Me and (Jarred Vanderbilt) was just talking about — we probably shouldn’t have won that game,” Austin Reaves said postgame. “I played miserably. Luka and (LeBron James) obviously carried a big weight for us.

“But it was I think midway through the fourth, I think I looked up when we were down six, and it was encouraging we’re down six. It felt like we were down 15. And at that point, I was like, ‘Oh, we have a real chance of winning this game.’ We got a lot of guys that can win us games. And it’s special to not play the way you want to and still come out and win.”

The Lakers are still figuring themselves out just a month after trading for Doncic, who played in his 10th game as a Laker on Thursday, with the Lakers going 8-2 in those games.

Doncic is still rounding into form after being sidelined for 6 1/2 weeks because of a strained left calf before making his Lakers debut on Feb. 10.

But entering their four-game road trip that starts in Boston for a matchup against the longtime rival Celtics today, the Lakers have climbed from the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference standings to No. 2 in large part because of their ability to simply play hard during their winning streak.

“Big picture, it means a lot to me, frankly,” Redick said. “And it’s a credit to the guys on our team. A few coaches recently, whether it’s been postgame, pregame, after the game, whatever, have said, ‘Man, your team plays really hard.’

“When you get to the playoffs, you have to play hard to have any sort of chance. And our guys’ ability to continually just reach down into the well and give whatever they’ve got on a given night, regardless if the shots are going in, or if there’s defensive mistakes, they just continue to stay the course with their effort. That says a lot about our group.”