Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht hits 9 3-pointers in another stellar performance

LOS ANGELES – Dalton Knecht could only shrug as he buried his fourth straight 3-pointer and sent Los Angeles Lakers ‘ the whole arena in a frenzy.

However, it was a very specific shrug from the Lakers rookie — the one made famous by Michael Jordan in the 1992 NBA Finals after a legendary 3-point flurry.

“Rui (Hachimura) talked to me about (how to) have a 3-point party,” Knecht said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I just shrugged.”

A pat on the back is also the increasingly accurate answer to the question many NBA fans are asking Knecht’s 37-point barrage Tuesday night: How did Knecht fall to the Lakers with the 17th pick in last summer’s draft?

Knecht torched the Utah Jazz with nine 3-pointers in the Lakers’ 124-118 victory, tying the single-game rookie record. He came up big in the third quarter, hitting four consecutive 3s before adding three free throws and another triple — and another 3 at the start of the fourth.

“I just got into a groove,” Knecht said. “My teammates found me and they looked for me every time. They made it easy for me. I just had to open up and get shot up.”

Knecht scored 21 points in the third quarter, and he had 21 consecutive points for the Lakers in the third and fourth. Although he didn’t score again, he had given Los Angeles a lead that proved insurmountable with the latest display of his formidable shooting ability.

“He was phenomenal tonight,” Anthony Davis said. “When you’re that hot, he’s special to look at. Every time he shoots the ball like that, it definitely gives us energy.”

Knecht moved into the Lakers’ starting lineup four games ago and has been excellent in his increased role. He is averaging 24.3 points per game. game while going an astonishing 21 for 31 on 3-pointers.

The Lakers have spent years trying to find a catch-and-shoot option to complement Davis and LeBron James. While the sample size is still relatively small just 14 games into the season, Knecht appears to be exactly what the Lakers have been looking for on the wing.

“His shot making gets us going,” coach JJ Redick said. “It’s a real weapon for our group. In addition to the score, it’s a weapon that gives us energy.”

And when Knecht gets into the type of rhythm he found against Utah, he excites his teammates — and even inspires fond memories for his rookie coach, who himself was a bit of a sharpshooter in his 15-year NBA career.

“It’s the flow state,” Redick said. “You’re not thinking. You’re just perfectly in balance with the curvature of the earth, and the earth is spinning on its axis a thousand miles an hour. You’ve let go and the ball just feels weightless. It feels like everything is going in.”

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

Knecht is also causing plenty of second-guessing in league front offices to let him slide to the Lakers at No. 17.

At the time, the reasoning was thought to be twofold: Knecht is already 23 years old after playing five seasons of college basketball, and he wasn’t considered much of a defender either.

Those worries feel more and more foolish with each impressive game by the late-blooming wingman, who spent two years in junior college and two more at Northern Colorado before transferring to Tennessee for a fifth collegiate season.

Knecht was an All-American for the Volunteers, winning SEC Player of the Year honors while averaging 21.7 points per game. match. He caught the attention of the basketball world — even in the Lakers’ locker room, where James and Davis watched his games, and Austin Reaves became a text friend well before the Lakers drafted him.

“I didn’t think he would fall for us,” James said. “I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how it happened, but I’m very grateful and very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we were getting when he dropped to 17.”

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