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    • Dalton Knecht has career game for Lakers in comeback win against Grizzlies
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    Dalton Knecht has career game for Lakers in comeback win against Grizzlies

    Vaseline Posted on

    Dalton Knecht left his feet too early.

    The Los Angeles Lakers guard went to Rui Hachimura, landed and rallied. The former Tennessee basketball star got the ball back and was back on his feet.

    Knecht sank the three-pointer in the third quarter. Then he scored another, en route to a career-high 19 points in the Lakers’ 128-123 comeback win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

    “We leaned on Dalton Knecht,” Lakers star LeBron James told ESPN after the game. “That’s what we did. (Anthony Davis) got in foul trouble and our first-round pick started a hot streak. He looked like he was back in Tennessee. We leaned on him and I tried to make some plays here and there to sprinkle in.’

    Knecht, who had an iconic run at Tennessee last season, went 5-for-5 on 3-pointers and 7-for-8 shooting in 31 minutes, all career bests.

    Dalton Knecht had a career-high 19 points for Lakers vs. Grizzlies

    Knecht averaged 6.1 points in 16.9 minutes per game on Wednesday. The No. 17 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft got going early against the Grizzlies, scoring a three-pointer in the first quarter.

    KD AND DK: Dalton Knecht faces idol Kevin Durant and receives a signed shirt after the Lakers-Suns game

    He made another in the second and then hit a baseline jumper to eclipse his season average. He made another midrange jumper in the third quarter before starting a series of three-pointers to fuel the comeback.

    “He was the catalyst for our comeback,” Redick said. “He was fantastic, not just shooting the ball. We’ve been challenging him lately to just be harder, more in line with our game plan. I don’t want to say it was perfect, but it’s small steps. He was great.”

    How Dalton Knecht sparked the Lakers’ comeback against Memphis

    Knecht had 10 points late in the third when James joined Davis on the bench, the former on a fast break and the latter in foul trouble. Knecht hit consecutive three-pointers in the final two minutes of the quarter, cutting the Grizzlies’ lead to 92-89.

    The UT product hit another three-pointer off Memphis’ Santi Aldama early in the fourth inning. He followed it up by throwing a lob to Christian Koloko less than a minute later to tie the game at 96–96.

    TO GET UP: Untold stories of Dalton Knecht’s rise to Tennessee basketball star, NBA Draft prospect

    “They just said the same thing they always say: Just keep shooting the ball and play with confidence,” Knecht told reporters. “JJ has a lot of confidence in me and I just have to go out there and do what I do: shoot the ball, get to the rim and find teammates. And I got the hot hand. Bron found me in transition and I just let that thing fly.

    When Davis returned, the Lakers were up by one and Knecht was one of the main reasons for that.

    Dalton Knecht was the Lakers’ first-round pick in Tennessee basketball

    Knecht was named SEC Player of the Year and was a consensus first-team All-American in his lone season at Tennessee. He averaged 21.7 points after transferring from Northern Colorado, with an average of 25.5 points in SEC play.

    The Thornton, Colorado, native finished with 780 points, the second-highest single-season total in program history. Knecht had 13 25-point games, eight 30-point games, six 35-point games and one 40-point game. A Tennessee player had scored 35 or more 50 times in history before Knecht.

    Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him atBy MikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you like Mike’s reporting, consider a digital subscription that gives you access to it all.

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