{"id":114711,"date":"2024-12-29T06:19:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T11:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=114711"},"modified":"2024-12-29T06:20:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T11:20:35","slug":"lakers-rookie-ready-dalton-knecht-rough-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/29\/lakers-rookie-ready-dalton-knecht-rough-stretch\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Lakers\u2019 Rookie Ready To Move Past Rough Stretch?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>They aren\u2019t going to raise a banner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/game\/sac-vs-lal-0022400435\/box-score\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">because they beat<\/a> the Sacramento Kings to move to 18-13. However, the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers won without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> is notable, both because of their opponent and their eventual reality. With James turning 40 years old tomorrow, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/14\/lebron-james-retirement-los-angeles-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">retirement isn\u2019t too far off<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what makes it important that they were by former No. 1 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>, who nearly had a 36-point triple-double. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Reaves<\/a> was sensational yet again, recording his second straight game with at least 26 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chrisma02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Max Christie<\/a> continues <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/16\/the-lakers-may-have-found-their-fifth-starter\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">to show improvement<\/a> as well, notching his third consecutive game with 16 or more points. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rui Hachimura<\/a> stepped up with 21 points. As a team, L.A.\u2019s defense was more or less respectable.<\/p>\n<h2>Is Lakers Rookie Dalton Knecht Ready To Move Past Rough Stretch?<\/h2>\n<p>Shining through it all was Lakers rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/knechda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Knecht<\/a>, who finished the game with 18 points and went 2-5 from beyond the arc. Knecht has been having a rough go of it as of late, shooting 14.3 percent from three in the 11 games preceding Los Angeles\u2019 win over Sacramento. The Rookie of the Year candidate is still shooting 36.7 percent from deep this season.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, he needed a game like Saturday\u2019s and the Lakers needed it from him.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83c\udfc0 Dalton Knecht finishes with 18 points (6-10 from the field), 2 rebounds and 1 assist against the Kings.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc9c\ud83d\udc9b Let&#8217;s go Lakers! <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LakeShow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LakeShow<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VX1uFiwTNZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/VX1uFiwTNZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LakeShow Italia (@LakeShowIta) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LakeShowIta\/status\/1873258936872173867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that Knecht wasn\u2019t camping out beyond the arc, he was frequently scoring inside the paint. Whether it was a cut or drive, he was aggressive. Just as significant as his scoring was his defensive play. Knecht probably won\u2019t consistently lock up players unless he joins law enforcement but he was making Kings players alter their shots.<\/p>\n<h3>Settling In<\/h3>\n<p>Moving forward, this is a game that the 23-year-old can build off of. He seemed to lose his rhythm when Christie replaced him in the starting lineup. That\u2019s also been the case for 2019 No. 10 pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reddica01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Reddish<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, Christie is lighter on his feet than Knecht and a more natural shooter than Reddish, which is presumably why JJ Redick decided to start him instead. If so, the Michigan State product is making the first-time head coach look smart, as the Lakers are now 7-2 with him in the first unit.<\/p>\n<p>For context, Los Angeles is 6-6 with Knecht as a starter and 5-3 with Reddish as a starter. In truth, Reddish is a cut above Christie at the defensive end. Nonetheless, Christie\u2019s three-point percentage (.360) this season underscores his purpose, as Reddish (.306) hasn\u2019t consistently capitalizing on his opportunities. With the Lakers losing 14 games by 6 points or less this season, who starts at shooting guard could be the difference between a win and a loss.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, until or unless he becomes a reliable on-ball defender, Knecht needs to settle into his role with the second unit. He\u2019s arguably <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/25\/jj-redick-lakers-rookie-dalton-knecht-could-earn-rotation-spot-next-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the best three-point shooter<\/a> on the team. Nonetheless, rotations can be an uncompromising puzzle dictated by need rather than desire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They aren\u2019t going to raise a banner because they beat the Sacramento Kings to move to 18-13. However, the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers won without LeBron James is notable, both because of their opponent and their eventual reality. With James turning 40 years old tomorrow, retirement isn\u2019t too far off. That\u2019s what makes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":114735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1608,62,3,29],"tags":[4556,1683,49212,2279,38,4916],"class_list":["post-114711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-kings","tag-austin-reaves","tag-cam-reddish","tag-dalton-knecht","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-max-christie"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114711"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114737,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114711\/revisions\/114737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}