{"id":673296,"date":"2026-03-22T07:41:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/673296\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:41:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:41:38","slug":"luke-kennard-sinks-last-second-three-as-lakers-win-ninth-straight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/673296\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Kennard sinks last-second three as Lakers win ninth straight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ORLANDO, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Welcome to the Lakers<\/a>, Luke Kennard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 midseason acquisition made the game-winning three-pointer in the team\u2019s 105-104 win<\/a> over the Orlando Magic on Saturday, extending the Lakers\u2019 winning streak to nine.<\/p>\n

Kennard, the NBA\u2019s leading three-point shooter, found himself wide-open on the wing off a baseline out-of-bounds play, capping the Lakers\u2019 frantic comeback from a five-point deficit with 50 seconds left.<\/p>\n

Teammates rushed to celebrate with Kennard at the final buzzer. Jaxson Hayes<\/a> and LeBron James<\/a> held him up and carried him several steps in the mob. He walked off the court to chants of \u201cLUUUKE.\u201d A loud \u201cLet\u2019s go Lakers\u201d cheer broke out above the tunnel leading to the Lakers\u2019 locker room.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cJust being part of a new team, obviously you\u2019re building new relationships, trying to find your role, what you do,\u201d Kennard said. \u201cBut they brought me here for a reason, and that was to shoot. And it feels good. Feels good the way that everybody reacted, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019re 22-6 in games within five points in the final five minutes, the best record in the NBA for clutch games.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s shot.<\/p>\n

Luka Doncic<\/a>, who finished with 33 points, missed a step-back three with 1:04 remaining that could have tied the score. Austin Reaves<\/a> 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\u2019t get a call. <\/p>\n

Each moment felt like a time when the Lakers could have \u201clet go of the rope,\u201d Reaves said. But for a team riding a charmed late-season streak, the ending was also \u201chow it\u2019s supposed to go,\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust a sense of calmness,\u201d James said of the team\u2019s late-game execution. \u201cThere\u2019s no pressure. We\u2019re just calm in those moments. We know we can get stops and we know we can make plays. And we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cbarely touched him,\u201d Reaves admitted.<\/p>\n

Kennard was so wide open that he adjusted the shooting sleeve on his right arm before he caught Smarts\u2019 in-bounds pass.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as he caught it and then released it, yeah,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> said with a satisfied grin, \u201ceverybody knew it was in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennard is the NBA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cstay with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennard said the chat helped get him out of his head.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Luke Kennard celebrates with teammates after his game-clinching three-pointer Saturday against Orlando.<\/p>\n

(Julio Aguilar \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few games [I was] not playing up to my standards, what I think I should be,\u201d Kennard said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s teammates never waned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I turned and saw the ball was in his hands on a wide-open three,\u201d James said, \u201cI pretty much knew it was cash.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Welcome to the Lakers, Luke Kennard. The Lakers\u2019 midseason acquisition made the game-winning three-pointer in the team\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":673297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[284018,38124,1582,276,284020,2961,8604,3363,224,5337,284017,1260,3121,449,24566,34961,284019,8488,17823,2450],"class_list":["post-673296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-41-year-old-james","tag-assist","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-famer-robert-parish","tag-la","tag-lakers","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-most-game","tag-nba","tag-orlando-magic","tag-point","tag-rebound","tag-record","tag-season-best-eight-game","tag-streak","tag-thing","tag-thursday"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116271702958491644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}