LOS ANGELES — Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht was already on a hot streak entering Tuesday night’s home game against the Utah Jazz.
But he took it to another level in the Lakers’ 124-118 NBA Cup Group Play victory, putting on a historic performance that earned a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 18,997 at Crypto.com Arena.
Knecht scored a career-high 37 points, tying an NBA rookie record by making nine 3-pointers on 12 attempts.
His last 3-pointer – a 26-footer off-the-catch on a pass from LeBron James (26 points, 12 assists) put him at 36 points for the game – tied him with Rodrigue Beaubois (March 27, 2010), Yogi Ferrell (Feb. 3, 2017) and Keyonte George (Feb. 15) for the rookie single-game record.
Knecht split a pair of free throws a little over one minute later for his 37th point – tied for the eighth-most scored by a Lakers rookie in franchise history.
He received a standing ovation as he subbed out and walked toward the bench with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter after scoring 22 points during a stretch of just under six minutes across the third and fourth quarters.
Knecht received another standing ovation when he re-entered the game with 6:11 left, but he only took one shot – a 3-pointer with 1:49 left that hit the front of the rim.
The 23-year-old wing out of Tennessee is the fourth Laker to make at least nine 3-point shots in a game, something done by Kobe Bryant (four times) and Knecht’s current teammates James (twice) and D’Angelo Russell (once).
Knecht did most of his damage late in the third, making four straight 3-pointers and a trio of free throws in the final 3½ minutes of the quarter to extend the Lakers’ lead from 79-68 to 97-75 heading into the fourth.
The Jazz (3-11) stuck around despite Knecht’s hot shooting, cutting their deficit to seven late in their 43-point fourth quarter, but the Lakers maintained their margin to close out the win.
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With their sixth consecutive victory, the Lakers improved them to 10-4 overall and 7-0 at home, their best home start since 2001. The six-game win streak is their longest since February 2021, shortly after their championship run in the Florida bubble.
Anthony Davis finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two steals. Austin Reaves had 17 points and five assists.
Lauri Markkanen recorded 25 points and eight rebounds for Utah (3-11). George scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and Collin Sexton added nine of his 19 in the fourth.
The Lakers improved to 2-0 in NBA Cup Group Play and are undefeated in tournament games dating to last season, when they won the inaugural event.
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The Lakers host the Orlando Magic on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.