The Los Angeles Lakers improved to 2-0 in NBA Cup play on Tuesday night with a 124-118 win over the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. The story of this one was rookie Dalton Knecht, who earned the start and didn’t disappoint.
Knecht finished the game with 37 points on 12-for-16 from the floor and 9-for-12 from three. His nine 3-pointers tied the NBA record for most threes by a rookie in a single game, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
He joins Keyonte George, Yogi Ferrell and Rodrigue Beaubois as the other rookies to hit nine threes in one game.
Knecht’s night was defined by an insane hot streak near the end of the third quarter. During that stretch, Knecht knocked down six threes in just about four minutes of game time and scored 22 points in a row for the Lakers. He was getting it done in all ways: off the dribble, off the catch, against zone, against man, and just about any other way you can think of.
Knecht even got three free ones at the charity stripe as the Jazz started to close out too aggressively on him. Overall, the former Tennessee superstar carried the Lakers on the offensive end and proved that he is capable of being a reliable weapon for them on that end.
Whether he stays in the starting lineup moving forward or not, Knecht is one of the best shooters on the team and can really score, which the Lakers need in order to take some of the burden off of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With his performance tonight, Knecht became the first rookie teammate that James has had to score 20 or more points in consecutive games, according to StatMamba.
37 points easily sets a new career high for Knecht, who hadn’t eclipsed 20 points before the Lakers’ last game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Now, with two consecutive big games under his belt, Knecht should only be ready to take another leap as the season goes along.
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