The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t let a little adversity ruin their perfect home record to begin the 2024-25 NBA season. Despite entering the fourth quarter with a five-point deficit, the Lakers managed to fight hard to a 128-123 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday to improve to 6-0 at crypto.com Arena this year.
Once again, LeBron James was the star of the show. The 39-year-old ageless wonder continued to rack up achievements as he became the oldest player in NBA history to record three consecutive triple-doubles after tallying 35 points, 14 assists, and 12 rebounds in 37 minutes of action.
While no one would blame James for relishing in the feat, the four-time NBA MVP didn’t want to hog the spotlight in Los Angeles.
“How did you summon the opportunity and power to finish off this game?” the Lakers superstar was asked following his team’s latest victory, per Vol Report.
“We leaned on Dalton Knecht, that’s what we did,” James responded to the reporter. “(Anthony Davis) got in foul trouble and our first-round pick had a hot streak. It looked like he was back at Tennessee, so we leaned on him.
As the Lakers blew an early 15-point lead, Davis struggled with foul troubles throughout the game, recording five by the fourth quarter. With Los Angeles’ starting center off his game for the night, Knecht stepped up in his place.
The former Tennessee Volunteer had his best NBA performances to date, scoring a season-high 19 points while shooting 7-of-8 from the floor (87.5 percent) — including a perfect 5-of-5 from the three-point line.
After the first-year pro’s impressive showcase, Lakers head coach JJ Redick went as far as labeling the 23-year-old as the “catalyst” for the team’s seventh win of the season.
“I thought (Knecht) was the catalyst for our comeback,” Redick said in his post-game scrum, per LoJo Media. “Just the energy. For whatever reason we were having trouble getting stops and had some turnovers, didn’t execute. We kind of lost our life a little bit. Those back-to-back (three-pointers) were huge.”
Los Angeles Lakers guards Bronny James (9), Dalton Knecht (4) and Jalen Hood-Schifino (0).
Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Selected 17th overall in June, Knecht has been one of the Lakers’ more promising rookies in recent memory. The Fargo, North Dakota native was one of college basketball’s best sharpshooters last season and the hope was that he could eventually have similar success with Redick — a former NBA three-point specialist — as his head coach.
Even though Wednesday was only his third time tallying a double-digit point total this season, Knecht’s outing gave a huge boost to his averages. He’s now averaging 7.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 44.6 percent from the floor and 37.2 percent from deep.
Time will reveal if Knecht’s heroics are the beginning of a hot streak. He’ll have the chance to pick up from where he left off when the Lakers visit the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
