Dalton Knecht stats tonight: How did Lakers rookie fare against Timberwolves? (Dec. 2)
Dalton Knecht and the LA Lakers went up against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. The Lakers are coming off a win from their game against the Utah Jazz on Sunday. Knecht surprisingly struggled to hit his shots against the Jazz as he only knocked down two out of 10 attempts.
Looking to improve from his previous performance, Knecht made his ninth start of the season. The first quarter was a slow start for the Lakers rookie. He played for the majority of the quarter and attempted to take two three-pointers. Unfortunately for him, he missed both attempts.
In the second quarter, Dalton Knecht checked in for a couple of minutes but was benched for the remainder of the period. He got to the line for a couple of free throws but missed both shots. Trying to keep the LA Lakers alive in the first half was D'Angelo Russell. D-Lo added 16 points and was perfect from beyond the arc, making four out of four attempts.
Come the third quarter, Knecht finally got on the scoreboard when Russell found the rookie inside for the easy flush. Knecht added a total of four points in the third period, both coming off of dunks. His second flush came off an assist from Rui Hachimura. It’s worth noting that the Purple and Gold struggled to gain any momentum as the Timberwolves established their dominance throughout the quarter. Ultimately, the Minnesota Timberwolves came out on top with a 109-80 finish.
The duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James were surprisingly offline on Monday. Even Dalton Knecht, who has proven to be a worthy Rookie of the Year candidate, could not deliver a solid performance to beat the Wolves.
Lakers vs Wolves: Recap
While it seemed that the Lakers had the upper hand being the team with the better record, the Timberwolves dug down deep in their defensive bag and put a stop to the Purple and Gold. It was a collective effort from the Timberwolves overall.
Not one player stood out to notch the victory over LA. Five Wolves players were in double figures. These were namely, Julius Randle (18 points), Rudy Gobert (17 points), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (15 points), Naz Reid (15 points) and Donte DiVincenzo (11 points).
As for the Lakers, D’Angelo Russell was the only player who performed efficiently on offense. He scored 20 points and shot 80% from beyond the arc and 66.7% overall. LeBron James struggled to find his shot, only scoring 10 points and shooting at 25% accuracy.
Anthony Davis also shot the ball poorly with 28.6% accuracy, resulting in 12 points only. As for the rookie Dalton Knecht, he also couldn’t find his range as he had six points, which interestingly all came from inside the paint.