The Los Angeles Lakers pulled out a comeback win over their budding rival Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, who took advantage of LA's lack of effort in the second and third quarters to build a lead. As the Purple and Gold tightened their play in the final period, they also leaned on their rookie guard Dalton Knecht, whose nearly perfect shooting night helped them trim the lead. Then, LeBron's historic third-straight triple-double, and Anthony Davis' clutch shooting, sealed the win. Afterward, rookie coach JJ Redick credited Dalton Knecht for giving the Lakers the momentum and ultimately the win.
“I thought he was the catalyst for our comeback,” the coach said, via Lakers beat reporter Khobi Price on X, formerly Twitter. In the win, Knecht had scored 19 points, a career-high for the rookie on 7-8 shooting overall and 5-5 from deep.
Lakers pull out a win
The Lakers had started the game strong, leading by as many as ten points in the first quarter, with LeBron hitting a buzzer-beating three to cap off a terrific start.
However, their old habits came back to bite them in the second quarter. For instance, lackadaisical effort on defense and turnovers gave the momentum back to the Grizzlies, allowing them to cut the lead to just a bucket by halftime.
Then, in the third, the Grizz carried the momentum to build a nine-point lead, which was when Knecht went on a run by himself, hitting three straight threes and then throwing a lob to newly activated center Christian Koloko to tie the game at 96.
Meanwhile, the eye injury seemed to bother Anthony Davis against Memphis, as he scored only 21 points on a relatively tentative 16 shots, but he did grab 14 rebounds. He also hit two three-pointers to help the Lakers ice the game in the final minute.
Then, he made the two free throws to put the game away at 128-123.
Despite slumping his way through the Lakers' first ten games, Dalton Knecht still had JJ Redick's trust. As a former sharpshooting guard himself, the coach believed that the rookie just needed to continue taking good shots, and they'll fall eventually.
And tonight, they did.
Consistency
“To me, [Dalton Knecht has] gotten some really good looks both organically and when we've run sets for him. I am undeterred in my thinking that he is a tier one, top 1% shooter,” the Lakers coach said before the Grizzlies game, via Matt Peralta of Lakers Nation.
He also added, “Sometimes you go through stuff and because I played 15 years, it's always hard for me early in the season if I initially didn't get off to a good start shooting 3s…. I've talked to him about it and he believes that shot is going in every single time. And so do I.”
The Lakers hope Knecht has finally found his shot as they play their first NBA Cup match against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, right after Victor Wembanyama dropped a career-high 50 points on the hapless Washington Wizards.
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