Month: November 2024

It’s a commonly held belief in sports that a player shouldn’t lose his job due to injury. That is especially true of a short-term injury. Rui Hachimura has only missed a week, yet his sprained ankle may have just changed the entire outlook of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers. Why? Because for the past week, Dalton Knecht has looked like one of the very best shooters in the league.

Across his last three starts, Knecht has now scored 88 points on 28-of-46 shooting from the floor and 16-of-26 shooting from deep. The No. 17 overall pick in June’s NBA Draft saved his best for last. On Tuesday, in a 124-118 victory over the Utah Jazz, Knecht scored 37 points and tied the rookie record with nine 3-pointers in a single game. At one point in the second half, Knecht scored 22 consecutive Laker points.

DALTON KNECHT HAD HIMSELF A NIGHT:

🔥 37 PTS (career high)
🔥 9 3PM (ties rookie record)
🔥 Scored 22 straight for LA@Lakers move 2-0 in #EmiratesNBACup play and are undefeated going back to last season 💯 pic.twitter.com/OjMOeKxY4p

— NBA (@NBA) November 20, 2024
“In the second half, it seemed like everybody in the gym knew that Dalton Knecht was going to shoot the next shot, with the exception of a few people,” Jazz coach Will Hardy told reporters after the game. “The problem was that those few people were on our team.”

It’s the sort of long-range explosion the Lakers have been lacking throughout the LeBron James-Anthony Davis era. This is a team that won a championship with a below-average half-court offense and took the third-fewest 3s in the NBA last season. Part of the logic behind hiring JJ Redick as head coach was that a formerly elite shooter from his playing days could help redesign the Laker offense to maximize spacing. Thus far this season, the Lakers have taken baby steps in the right direction. They’re up to 23rd in 3-point attempt rate from 28th a season ago, and landing Knecht is only pushing them further towards modernity.

When the Lakers landed Knecht at No. 17 overall, Redick reportedly started drawing up plays for him immediately on draft night. The trouble with doing so for a rookie in a bench role is that finding a rhythm in a low-usage role is extremely difficult. Knecht was used to being the focal point of his college offense at Tennessee, and he has been significantly more successful this season in games in which he’s played major minutes. He’s now played seven games in which he’s earned more than 20 minutes of playing time and 20 minutes in which he’s gotten less. When he’s played 20 or more minutes, he’s shooting 53.1% on 3s. When he’s played less? He’s at 31.6%.

player headshot
team logo
Dalton Knecht
LAL • SF • #4
PPG
11.3
APG
1.1
SPG
.5
3P/G
2.286
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Rhythm helps, but so too does fit. Shooters amplify the players around them, and are in turn amplified by their best teammates. It’s harder for defenses to direct appropriate resources towards Knecht when he’s sharing the floor with James and Davis, and slowing them down becomes significantly harder for them when they have to keep an eye on Knecht. Hachimura poses some of the same problems, but even as a high-percentage shooter, his volume remains fairly low. Hachimura’s value comes more out of his ability to use the threat of his jumper to create better looks for himself near the basket. That’s a skill that means more off the bench than it does with James, Davis and Austin Reaves on the court, as the Lakers have found since benching D’Angelo Russell.

The Lakers could play the two of them together, and almost certainly will in some alignments, but their perimeter defense leaves plenty to be desired even with Cam Reddish in a starting spot. Knecht, Hachimura and Reaves are all below-average defenders at best. Davis is one of the NBA’s best defenders, but asking him to cover all three of those liabilities invites foul trouble, exhaustion and potentially injury. Knecht and Hachimura might be the fourth- and fifth-best Lakers at the moment, but there’s really only space in the starting five for one of them.

And if their last three games have been any indication, Knecht is the easier fit, and he benefits far more from playing alongside the starters than Hachimura would. The Lakers have spent years searching for this sort of shooter. Now that they have him, it’s up to Redick to continue maximizing him with as many minutes and shot attempts as possible.

There are no moral victories in the NBA, but the Cleveland Cavaliers can draw plenty of optimism from their 120-117 loss to the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, which brought their 15-game win streak to start the season to an end. With all the things going in Boston’s favor in this game, and everything that was working against the Cavs, to be within two points on five different occasions and lose by just three says a lot about how formidable a full-strength Cleveland team can be in a potential playoff matchup with the Celtics, or anyone else for that matter.

Here are three reasons the Cavs can feel good about the fight they put up in this game knowing these factors could swing in their favor next time.

Cleveland’s wings were clipped
Cleveland was without the services of three key wings in Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert and Dean Wade. Never mind that Okoro and LeVert are both making north of 44% of their 3s this season; this is a matchup that requires a stable of perimeter defenders to combat Boston’s relentless 3-point pressure.

Okoro is a primary star scorer defender. Individually, he was missed tremendously in this game. Wade and LeVert go 6-foot-9 and 6-6, respectively, and that kind of positional size is a must to be able to build a real shell against Boston’s drive-and-kicks and effectively switch and scramble to shooters.

Without these three wings, Cleveland’s defensive lineups become very extreme with two really big guys in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley and two really small guys in Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.

The Celtics, as saturated with intermediate size and skill as any team in history, were able to manipulate the matchups they wanted with simple ball screens in the half court, and there were plenty of advantageous cross-matches available in transition with 6-5 Ty Jerome (that’s generous), 6-4 Sam Merrill and 6-1 Craig Porter Jr. logging a combined 72 minutes.

Everywhere you looked, the Celtics had a one-on-one advantage, and they used it to drive and kick their way into 41 3-point attempts. This dynamic was on display on Boston’s first 3 of the game.

Garland was matched up on Jaylen Brown, who backs the mouse into the house until Mitchell is forced off off Jrue Holiday in the corner to come over and double Brown, who simply kicks out to Derrick White, who is open because Merrill now has to split the difference between him and the abandoned Holiday. Holiday then gets the ball on the swing for a corner 3. Bang.

Spicy ball movement leads to Jrue three ball pic.twitter.com/QKYH5RfOGn

— KWAPT (@KWAPT) November 20, 2024
A few possessions later, it was Jayson Tatum isolated in the middle of the floor against Merrill. Mitchell knows Merrill can’t contain that matchup on his own, so he sucks down to the elbow to provide help in Tatum’s driving lane. That leaves Brown open on the wing. Tatum swings it. Bang.

Jaylen Brown with a 3 to cap off a 9-0 Celtics run 🎯pic.twitter.com/MgeQPCmvBe

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) November 20, 2024
The Celtics prey relentlessly on these perimeter advantages to create open 3s against teams too leveraged in help to make it back to shooters in time. That’s how they made 22 3-pointers at a 54% clip. Which brings us to …

Massive 3-point disparity
Yes, Boston routinely empties the clip from 3, taking over 50 and making over 19 per game. Both those marks lead the league by a considerable margin. Which is to say, Cleveland losing the 3-point battle to Boston is not a surprise, but the margin by which they lost is the important factor.

Cleveland is no slouch from 3. On the season, the Cavs are making over 15 a game. But they only made 10 on Tuesday. Do the math, and that’s a 36-point 3-point discrepancy between Boston’s 66 points from 3 and Cleveland’s 30.

Simply put, to lose the 3-point battle by 36 points and only lose the actual game by three is an extremely positive statistical sign — especially when the Cavs were without two deadeye 3-point shooters in LeVert (45.8%) and Okoro (44.4%).

Now, don’t fall for the bait that this was just some random off shooting night for the Cavaliers that will just magically regress to the mean next time. Boston’s defense is incredible, and it had a lot to do with Mitchell and Garland, in particular, shanking 14 of their 17 triples.

Cleveland has created over 20 wide-open 3s per game this season, per NBA.com tracking (which defines wide-open shots as those that come with the closest defender at least six feet away), and Cleveland was making those shots at an unbelievable 49% clip. That number is going to come down eventually, whether Boston or any other team is on the other side.

Having said that, Mitchell and Garland, to my memory, didn’t get a single wide-open 3 on Tuesday, and there were very few to go around for anyone in a Cleveland uniform. That’s not likely to change. For the Cavs to beat the Celtics in a playoff series, Mitchell and Garland are going to have to knock down lots, and I mean lots, of contested shots.

But they’re capable. Mitchell is one of the deadliest pull-up shooters in the league, and Garland came into Tuesday making almost 42% of his off-the-dribble 3s, per Synergy. These are bonafide scoring studs who combined to make just 14 of their 50 total shots on Tuesday. If a few more shots go down, just a few, the Cavs, even without their three defensive wings and even with Boston shooting the lights out, probably win this game.

Speaking of Darius Garland…
Garland was atrocious on Tuesday. He missed 18 of his 21 shots and all six of his 3s. Again, it would be irresponsible to suggest this was just a random bad game. Garland has feasted this year when he’s been unguarded, which is not something he can rely on against Boston. You saw the struggles that come with strong contests. His floaters were squeezed. His 3s were contested. His space was minimal.

That said, Garland could have the entire state of Massachusetts guarding him and he’s not likely to go 3-for-21 and 0-for-6 from 3 again.

And so, to recap: The Cavs got nine points on 14% shooting from Garland, who is averaging almost 21 points on 49/43/93 shooting splits. They lost the 3-point battle by 36 points while the Celtics shot 54%, which is smoking hot even by their standards, from beyond the arc. Okoro, Wade and LeVert were all out. And Cleveland still only lost by three points, on the road, to the best team in the league?

Los Angeles Lakers guard Dalton Knecht continued his strong rookie season in Tuesday’s 124-118 win against the Utah Jazz. Following Tuesday’s 37-point explosion, Lakers star LeBron James stated that he knew that Knecht was going to be a star player before the team even drafted him.

“I don’t know. The same shit I said last year,” James said. “Everybody on the internet calls me a liar all the time. They say I lie about every f—ing thing. So what am I now? I’ve been said it. I watched him, I watched Tennessee a lot.

“I did not think he was going to fall to us. I thought it would be impossible. I have no idea how that happened but very grateful and very happy that he’s here. I knew exactly what we was getting when he fell to 17.”

James did put into the universe that he was a fan of Knecht’s game even when he was still playing at Tennessee last season. Clearly, the Lakers star was right about what Knecht would be bringing to the table as the rookie guard scored a career-high 37 points on 12-of-16 shooting to along with five rebounds on Tuesday. Knecht’s nine 3-pointers tied the NBA single-game rookie record.

James also threw some shade at the rest of the league for missing out on Knecht.

“They didn’t find DK. The other 16 teams f—ed it up,” James said. “Did anybody watch him? What the f—? Shit. They just didn’t f— it up.”

Knecht was one of the more highly-touted prospects to enter the 2024 NBA Draft after being named the SEC Player of the Year. Still, Knecht ended up falling to the Lakers with the No. 17 pick, and Los Angeles was able to scoop him up.

The 2024-25 NBA season is barely a month old, so obviously it’s too early to call Knecht a superstar. Still, the early returns have been great on Knecht, and he certainly could be a key piece of the Lakers’ rotation for years to come.