SAN ANTONIO — After a three-game losing streak, the Lakers got back into the win column with Wednesday’s road victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center.
Rookie forward Dalton Knecht was a significant reason for the Lakers ending their skid.
He scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting (4 of 10 on 3-pointers) to go with eight rebounds and a pair of steals after being reinserted into the starting lineup alongside Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Knecht averaged 23.8 points (60.3% shooting, 57.6% from 3-point range) and 4.8 rebounds in four games (35.2 minutes) as a starter from Nov. 15-21, a stretch when the Lakers went 3-1, opening games in the first unit in place of Hachimura, who was sidelined because of a sprained left ankle.
He moved back into a reserve role once Hachimura returned ahead of Saturday’s home loss to the Denver Nuggets, with Knecht averaging 8 points and 4.5 rebounds in two games coming off the bench before moving back into the starting lineup.
“He’s an elite shooter,” Davis said of Knecht. “He was able to get some open shots because he’s setting back screens and when you shoot the ball as well as he does, two people tend to go to him and leave me open at the rim or if their guy helps, then you got another guy who’s opening the corner on the wing.
“He brings a different dynamic to us whether it’s a starting unit or a second unit, but specifically with that starting unit he creates that space for us.”
Now, the Lakers’ attention turns to returning to their winning ways in NBA Cup games with Friday’s Group Play finale matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.
Friday’s result doesn’t provide any guarantees for the Lakers when it comes to their quest to repeat as In-Season Tournament champions.
But a victory would make their path to the tournament’s quarterfinals easier.
The Lakers (11-7 on the season; 2-1 in Cup games) dropped their first NBA Cup game to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.
They had gone 9-0 in NBA Cup games before Tuesday, beating the Spurs on Nov. 15 and the Utah Jazz on Nov. 19 in Group Play games after going 7-0 in tournament play last season to win the inaugural event.
The Lakers will need to beat the Thunder (14-4; 1-1), plus a Suns (10-8; 2-1) loss to the Spurs (10-9; 2-1) on Friday, to win West Group B since they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Spurs but not against the Suns.
Their chances of advancing to the knockout stages would diminish significantly if they lose or the Suns win on Friday because of point-differential tiebreakers amongst Wild Card teams.
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THUNDER AT LAKERS (NBA Cup Group Play)
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/radio: ESPN, Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM