LeBron James stood at midfield early in the fourth, hands on his hips, as a faint cheer began to echo through the building.
“MVP. MVP.”
James spent 22 seasons on the field with those letters shouted at him, the league’s all-time leading scorer, one of the greatest players to earn admiration in buildings across the league.
But in Los Angeles, those three letters are increasingly directed at James’ teammates. Anthony Davis is the league’s second-leading scorer, and when he stepped to the foul line, the crowd serenaded him several times.
However, these letters were not intended for him either. This moment was not for them.
With James well out of the game and Davis on the bench, that chant vaguely gained steam for the player chosen 17e in the recent NBA draft, a player who had the crowd bouncing up and down for the second straight home game ripped through the net.
And while he’s not the league’s most valuable, no one meant more than Dalton Knecht in the Lakers’ 124-118 victory over the Utah Jazz in the NBA Cup pool game.
Read more: Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht takes his shot and swishes it
Knecht tied the NBA record for most threes made by a rookie, hitting nine while finishing with a career-high 37 points. In his last two home games, Knecht made fourteen of his seventeen three-point shots.
And when he shot two free throws early in the fourth, after a great showing, the crowd showed their appreciation.
The Lakers have won six games in a row.
The hot shooting came with Knecht in the starting lineup for the third straight game, replacing an injured Rui Hachimura. The Lakers, coach JJ Redick said, are hopeful Hachimura and injured center Jaxson Hayes can return sometime this week after ankle injuries.
Knecht opened the game with a wide-open three in front of the Utah bench. His next shot, another three, went through the net with ease.
But it was in the second half when Knecht, for the second game in a row, turned things around. In the Lakers’ narrow win Saturday in New Orleans, he revived them with 11 points in the third quarter.
Three days later, that seems like nothing in comparison.
In just over three minutes at the end of the quarter, Knecht scored 18 points. He made one three. Then another. Then another. Then another. He fouled out and made three free throws. And to top it off, he drilled a three-pointer.
After the four straight wins, he shrugged, like Michael Jordan did during the 1992 NBA Finals.
He finished the quarter with 21 points, the most by a rookie in the NBA this season and the fourth-highest scoring quarter for a player all season.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
