Luke Kennard sinks last-second three as Lakers win ninth straight

ORLANDO, Fla. — Welcome to the Lakers, Luke Kennard.

The Lakers’ midseason acquisition made the game-winning three-pointer within the workforce’s 105-104 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, extending the Lakers’ profitable streak to 9.

Kennard, the NBA’s main three-point shooter, discovered himself huge open on the wing off a baseline out-of-bounds play, capping the Lakers’ frantic comeback from a five-point deficit with 50 seconds left.

Teammates rushed to have a good time with Kennard on the closing buzzer. Jaxson Hayes and LeBron James held him up and carried him a number of steps within the mob. He walked off the court docket to chants of “LUUUKE.” A loud “Let’s go Lakers” cheer broke out above the tunnel resulting in the Lakers’ locker room.

“Just being part of a new team, obviously you’re building new relationships, trying to find your role, what you do,” Kennard stated. “But they brought me here for a reason, and that was to shoot. And it feels good. Feels good the way that everybody reacted, obviously.”

The Lakers (46-25) gained their ninth consecutive sport, the longest profitable streak for the franchise because the 2019-20 season once they gained their seventeenth NBA championship. They’re 22-6 in video games inside 5 factors within the closing 5 minutes, the very best report within the NBA for clutch video games.

It initially appeared as if the Lakers have been out of late-game heroics. They have been one for 10 from three-point vary within the fourth quarter earlier than Kennard’s shot.

Luka Doncic, who completed with 33 factors, missed a step-back three with 1:04 remaining that would have tied the rating. Austin Reaves had 11 of his 26 factors within the fourth quarter, however missed an open tying three with 10 seconds left. James appeared to get fouled on a possible tying layup with 2.6 seconds left, however the Lakers didn’t get a name.

Each second felt like a time when the Lakers might have “let go of the rope,” Reaves stated. But for a workforce using a charmed late-season streak, the ending was additionally “how it’s supposed to go,” stated James, who scored 12 factors in his NBA-record 1,612th regular-season sport and compelled a important turnover with 4.7 seconds left that gave the Lakers the final possession, down by two factors.

“Just a sense of calmness,” James stated of the workforce’s late-game execution. “There’s no pressure. We’re just calm in those moments. We know we can get stops and we know we can make plays. And we did that.”

Assistant coach Greg St. Jean drew up the profitable play. James was supposed to chop arduous to the basket, with hopes of drawing to defenders. Doncic flashed away from a double workforce. Reaves went flying to the bottom although Magic guard Jalen Suggs “barely touched him,” Reaves admitted.

Kennard was so huge open that he adjusted the taking pictures sleeve on his proper arm earlier than he caught Smarts’ in-bounds move.

“As soon as he caught it and then released it, yeah,” Lakers coach JJ Redick stated with a glad grin, “everybody knew it was in.”

Kennard is the NBA’s main three-point shooter at 48.6%. Only a couple of weeks in the past, he was on monitor to change into simply the sixth NBA participant to shoot 50% or higher after a scorching 17 for 30 six-game stretch. But he went by means of a sudden stoop: Kennard was simply three for 14 from three within the final six video games.

Redick, one other former sharpshooting Duke star, understands the sensation. The coach and his latest participant had a dialog Saturday morning. Redick shared his recollections of when he went by means of slumps and the way he received out of them. He reiterated that Kennard was delivered to the Lakers for a selected motive and to “stay with it.”

Kennard stated the chat helped get him out of his head.

Lakers guard Luke Kennard celebrates with teammates after his game-clinching three-pointer Saturday towards Orlando.

(Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)

“The last few games [I was] not playing up to my standards, what I think I should be,” Kennard stated. “And I want to help, I want to make an impact whenever I can. He just told me to be yourself and move on from all that.”

Kennard and Smart locked eyes earlier than Smart threw the looping in-bounds move from the baseline. Doncic heard Smart name the shot good earlier than he might see it splash by means of the online. The confidence from Kennard’s teammates by no means waned.

“When I turned and saw the ball was in his hands on a wide-open three,” James stated, “I pretty much knew it was cash.”