By GREG BEACHAM
Los Angeles (AP) – Dalton Knecht could only shrug when he buried his fourth consecutive 3-pointer and sent the Los Angeles Lakers’ entire arena into a frenzy.
That was a very specific shrug by the Lakers rookie, however, the one made famous by Michael Jordan in the 1992 NBA Finals after a legendary 3-point flurry.
“Rui (Hachimura) was talking to me about (how) I need to get a 3-point celebration,” Knecht said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I just gave the shrug.”
A shrug is also the increasingly accurate response to the question many NBA fans are asking after Knecht’s 37-point barrage Tuesday night: Just 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 got on a major roll in the third quarter, hitting those four consecutive 3s before adding three free throws and another triple — and yet another 3 at the start of the fourth.
“I just got in a groove,” Knecht said. “My teammates found me, and they were looking for me every time. They made it easy for me. I just had to get open and get the shot up.”
Knecht scored 21 points in the third quarter, and he had 21 consecutive points for the Lakers spanning the third and fourth. Although he didn’t score again, he had staked Los Angeles to a lead that proved insurmountable with the latest demonstration of his formidable shooting skill.
“He was phenomenal tonight,” Anthony Davis said. “When you’re hot like that, he’s special to watch. Anytime he’s shooting the ball like that, it definitely gives us energy.”
Knecht moved into the Lakers’ starting lineup four games ago, and he has been outstanding in his increased role. He is averaging 24.3 points per 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. Although the sample size is still relatively small just 14 games into the season, Knecht appears to be exactly what the Lakers have been seeking on the perimeter.
“His shot-making gets us going,” coach JJ Redick said. “It’s a real weapon for our group. Beyond just the score, it’s a weapon that energizes us.”
And when Knecht gets into the type of rhythm he found against Utah, he thrills his teammates, and even inspires fond memories for his rookie coach, who was a bit of a sharpshooter himself during 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 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 to go in.”
Knecht appears 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 winning streak in nearly four years.
Knecht is also causing plenty of second-guessing in the league’s front offices for letting him slip 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 also wasn’t considered much of a defender.
Those concerns feel increasingly 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. He caught the basketball world’s attention, 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 did not think he was going to fall to us,” James said. “I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened, but I’m very grateful and very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we were getting when he fell to 17.”
Sid will be back next week!
