ORLANDO, Fla. — Welcome to the Lakers, Luke Kennard.
The Lakers’ midseason acquisition made the game-winning three-pointer in the team’s 105-104 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, extending the Lakers’ winning streak to nine.
Kennard, the NBA’s leading three-point shooter, found himself wide-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 celebrate with Kennard at the final buzzer. Jaxson Hayes and LeBron James held him up and carried him several steps in the mob. He walked off the court to chants of “LUUUKE.” A loud “Let’s go Lakers” cheer broke out above the tunnel leading to 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 said. “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) won their ninth consecutive game, the longest winning streak for the franchise since the 2019-20 season when they won their 17th NBA championship. They’re 22-6 in games within five points in the final five minutes, the best record in the NBA for clutch games.
It initially seemed as if the Lakers were out of late-game heroics. They were one for 10 from three-point range in the fourth quarter before Kennard’s shot.
Luka Doncic, who finished with 33 points, missed a step-back three with 1:04 remaining that could have tied the score. Austin Reaves had 11 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, but missed an open tying three with 10 seconds left. James appeared to get fouled on a potential tying layup with 2.6 seconds left, but the Lakers didn’t get a call.
Each moment felt like a time when the Lakers could have “let go of the rope,” Reaves said. But for a team riding a charmed late-season streak, the ending was also “how it’s supposed to go,” said James, who scored 12 points in his NBA-record 1,612th regular-season game and forced a critical turnover with 4.7 seconds left that gave the Lakers the last possession, down by two points.
“Just a sense of calmness,” James said of the team’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 winning play. James was supposed to cut hard to the basket, with hopes of drawing to defenders. Doncic flashed away from a double team. Reaves went flying to the ground even though Magic guard Jalen Suggs “barely touched him,” Reaves admitted.
Kennard was so wide open that he adjusted the shooting sleeve on his right arm before he caught Smarts’ in-bounds pass.
“As soon as he caught it and then released it, yeah,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said with a satisfied grin, “everybody knew it was in.”
Kennard is the NBA’s leading three-point shooter at 48.6%. Only a few weeks ago, he was on track to become just the sixth NBA player to shoot 50% or better after a sizzling 17 for 30 six-game stretch. But he went through a sudden slump: Kennard was just three for 14 from three in the last six games.
Redick, another former sharpshooting Duke star, understands the feeling. The coach and his newest player had a conversation Saturday morning. Redick shared his memories of when he went through slumps and how he got out of them. He reiterated that Kennard was brought to the Lakers for a specific reason and to “stay with it.”
Kennard said the chat helped get him out of his head.
Lakers guard Luke Kennard celebrates with teammates after his game-clinching three-pointer Saturday against Orlando.
(Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)
“The last few games [I was] not playing up to my standards, what I think I should be,” Kennard said. “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 before Smart threw the looping in-bounds pass from the baseline. Doncic heard Smart call the shot good before he could see it splash through the net. The confidence from Kennard’s teammates never waned.
“When I turned and saw the ball was in his hands on a wide-open three,” James said, “I pretty much knew it was cash.”