Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht made 9 three-pointers with another outstanding perimeter performance

LOS ANGELES – When Dalton Knecht made his fourth consecutive three-pointer, he just shrugged and fired. Los Angeles Lakers ‘ there was a frenzy throughout the arena.

But this was a very specific shrug from the Lakers rookie; It was the shrug that Michael Jordan made famous after a legendary three-point flurry in the 1992 NBA Finals.

“Rui (Hachimura) was talking to me about (how) I should do the 3-point celebration,” Knecht said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I shrugged.”

Shrugging is also an increasingly accurate response to the question many NBA fans ask next. Knecht’s 37-point attack Tuesday night: How did Knecht fall 17th overall to the Lakers in last summer’s draft?

Knecht tied the single-game rookie record by making nine 3-pointers against the Utah Jazz in the Lakers’ 124-118 win. He made a big shot in the third quarter, hitting four consecutive 3-pointers before adding three free throws and another 3-pointer; He made another three-pointer at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

“I just discovered myself,” Knecht said. “My teammates found me and were calling me every time. They made my job easier. I just had to get open and take the shot.

Knecht scored 21 points in the third quarter and scored consecutive 21 points in the third and fourth quarters for the Lakers. Although he failed to score again, he put Los Angeles out to an insurmountable lead with a final display of his prodigious shooting ability.

“Tonight was phenomenal,” Anthony Davis said. “It’s special to watch him when he’s hot like this. Every time he shoots the ball like that, it definitely gives us energy.”

Knecht entered the Lakers’ starting lineup four games ago and has performed outstandingly in his increased role. He is averaging 24.3 points per game and is making a staggering 21/31 on 3-pointers.

The Lakers spent years finding a catch-and-shoot option to complement Davis and LeBron James. Although the sample size is still relatively small at only 14 games into the season, Knecht appears to be exactly what the Lakers are looking for in the outfield.

“His shooting gets us going,” coach JJ Redick said. “He is a real weapon for our group. “Beyond the score, it is a weapon that gives us energy.”

And once Knecht finds the rhythm he found against Utah, he’s electrifying his teammates and even providing fond memories for his rookie coach, who has been a bit of a sniper himself during his 15-year NBA career.

“This is the flow state,” Redick said. “You’re not thinking. You’re in perfect balance with the curvature of the Earth and the way it spins on its axis at a thousand miles per hour. You let go and the ball feels weightless. Everything will go in.”

Knecht already looks like a key rotation player for the Lakers, who are off to an impressive 10-4 start to the season. Los Angeles has won six straight games, its longest winning streak in almost four years.

Knecht also causes a lot of doubt in the league’s front offices for allowing the Lakers to fall to 17th overall.

At the time, the logic was thought to be twofold: Knecht was already 23 years old after playing five seasons of college basketball and was also not considered much of a defender.

Those concerns seem increasingly foolish with each impressive game from the late-developing winger, who spent two years in junior college and two more at Northern Colorado before transferring to Tennessee for his fifth college season.

Knecht was an All-American with the Volunteers and earned SEC Player of the Year honors after averaging 21.7 points per game. It caught the attention of the basketball world; Even in the Lakers locker room, where he watched James and Davis play and where Austin Reaves was his text buddy long before the Lakers drafted him.

“I didn’t think it would fall on us,” James said. “I thought it was going to be impossible. I have no idea how it happened, but I’m so grateful and so happy it’s here. When it got down to 17, I knew exactly what we were going into.”

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