ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Not all shooting slumps are created equal. And most don\u2019t end like this.<\/p>\n
For Luke Kennard, it had been six games since the ball ripped through the nets the way he\u2019s grown accustomed to, the NBA\u2019s best 3-point shooter making only three of his last 14 shots from distance. The dry spell moved his 3-point percentage on the season all the way down to \u2026 48.1 percent.<\/p>\n
Still, for a player who was acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline for his 3-point shooting prowess, the misses, combined with lighter minutes and less impactful play, prompted a meeting between Kennard and his coach, JJ Redick \u2014 someone uniquely qualified to help a shooter through a mini-slump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hard on myself. I like to chase perfection. Obviously, you\u2019re never going to be perfect, but he just told me to stay with it. I\u2019m here for a reason. I\u2019ve been in the league for a while,\u201d Kennard said. \u201cHe told me stories about when he played, going through, like, a slump and how he got out of it. So it\u2019s just good to connect with a guy like that, to have him as your coach. A guy that\u2019s been through it, has played a very similar position to you. Just having a conversation with him to kind of just get out of my head a little bit. Just flush it. The last few games, not playing up to my standards, what I think I should be. And I want to help. I want to make an impact whenever I can.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just told me to be yourself and move on from all that. They need me to be aggressive when I\u2019m out there. So I thought it was a really good conversation, and I\u2019m glad we had it. Tonight was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally good\u201d might not do it justice.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Kennard hit the biggest shot of his short Lakers tenure, swishing a game-winning 3 just before the buzzer to beat the Magic 105-104 in Orlando. The shot capped a wild sequence that included score-tying misses from Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and Austin Reaves in the last minute, a costly Orlando turnover, a seemingly missed call on a LeBron James shot that could\u2019ve led to overtime-forcing free throws, and a second chance with 2.6 seconds left for Kennard to lift the Lakers to their ninth win in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of things happen in the last couple of weeks. We\u2019ve had a number of things happen on this road trip that has shown growth for our group,\u201d Redick said after the game. \u201cWe did a good job of just playing through stuff, whether it was some cold shooting, some hot shooting for them, for a little stretch there, getting down, playing on the road. Again, the external circumstances of whatever tonight was, and not allowing that to get us off our game. \u2026 We just kept playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those external circumstances, in the Lakers\u2019 eyes, were the officiating. Despite shooting 29 free throws to Orlando\u2019s 23, Marcus Smart and Don\u010di\u0107 were both called for technical fouls. The Lakers lost a challenge early in the game when Wendell Carter Jr. ran into Reaves in a violent collision, with Reaves charged for the foul. On a potential score-tying layup, Paolo Banchero appeared to make contact with James\u2019 arms after hitting the ball (while James still had control of the basketball). Players up and down the roster were unhappy with officiating decisions throughout the game \u2014 the kind of thing that\u2019s caused the Lakers to fold in the past.<\/p>\n
But Saturday, despite their perceived disadvantages, the Lakers kept fighting, figuring out ways to extend their longest winning streak since the 2019-20 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done it in different ways,\u201d Reaves said. \u201cWe\u2019ve won ugly games where it wasn\u2019t great offensively. Won it with our defense, and then we\u2019ve dominated some games offensively. But just getting a rhythm, playing alongside one another, having fun and getting wins.\u201d<\/p>\n