It looked like the Los Angeles Lakers’ win streak was coming to an end, although Luke Kennard ensure that didn’t happen by hitting a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining to beat the Orlando Magic on the road.
Kennard has fit in perfectly since joining the Lakers, and he admitted that shots like that are why they traded for him, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“It feels good,” said Kennard, who was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline last month. “Just being part of a new team, obviously you’re building new relationships, trying to find your role, what you do.
“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.”
Kennard finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 3-of-4 from deep to go along with three rebounds. It appeared as if the Lakers were gonna come up short against a tough Orlando team, but they were able to force a turnover to give them one final look.
After the officials missed an obvious foul call on a drive by LeBron James, frustration appeared to be mounting. The Lakers’ coaching staff drew up a phenomenal play, however, and the Magic left Kennard open to drain the game-winner.
While the play may not have been designed specifically for Kennard, he ended up being the open man and he credited Marcus Smart for finding him:
“Smart had to make a couple reads and ended up finding me there,” Kennard said. “It was the right read. Make or miss, I think we would have lived with the results because we executed both plays at the end. But it was good that we executed it.”
The Lakers have won in a variety of ways during their nine-game winning streak with everyone on the roster contributing. Kennard has fit in perfectly since being acquired at the trade deadline, and now confidence seems to be building amongst the group regarding what this team can accomplish.
Luke Kennard has been exactly what Lakers hoped for
The Lakers were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the first half of the season and they hoped to address that by acquiring Kennard from the Atlanta Hawks at the deadline.
So far, he has been everything they had hoped for, averaging 8.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists off the bench while shooting 46.2% from 3-point range on 3.1 attempts. While the volume could be a little higher, Kennard has been the best 3-point shooter in the league this season at 48.6%.
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