Dalton Knecht Stats Tonight: How did Lakers rookie perform in game vs Knicks? (Feb. 1)

LA Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht saw limited time off the bench in their 128-112 road victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The former Tennessee star played 9:32 and tallied two points, on 1-of-3 shooting, in a game that saw the Lakers turned more to their veteran players to tow them to the victory.

Entering the game, Dalton Knecht averaged 9.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 21 minutes per game. In the 47 games he has played for the Lakers (28-19), he started in 12 of them.

Dalton Knecht's stats tonight against the New York Knicks

Player	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	FG	3-PT FG	FT	TO	+/-
Dalton Knecht	2	0	0	0	0	1-3	0-2	0-0	1	-8

LeBron James led the way for the Lakers, who played their second game without Anthony Davis (abdominal muscle strain), in the win. He finished with a triple-double of 33 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Austin Reaves backstopped him with 27, with Rui Hachimura adding 21 points.

The Lakers used a 25-15 run in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter to create a 116-104 separation and never looked back from there.

The win was the second straight, and sixth in seven games, for the Lakers, who next play against the LA Clippers on Tuesday.

Dalton Knecht staying positive in rookie campaign in the NBA

Dalton Knecht knows that playing for the LA Lakers in his NBA rookie season he will not always have his way. But he is staying positive and ready whenever his number is called.

Selected 17th overall in last year’s NBA Rookie Draft following a stellar collegiate career at Northern Colorado and Tennessee, the 23-year-old Knecht has been logging 21 minutes per game and averaging 9.5 points and 3.1 rebounds.

While he has started in a number of games, he is primarily coming off the bench to spell more veteran players like Austin Reaves and Max Christie.

Knecht, however, has no problem with it, recognizing that at this point of his career he has to earn his playing time.

He spoke about his mindset in his rookie campaign in one of his sessions with reporters last month, saying:

“[I’m trying to] Stay on a positive mindset. Going out there, giving my best, shooting the ball, playing defense, getting rebounds, something like that. Just making sure to do those little things.”

Check out what he had to say below, beginning at 0:36:

Dalton Knecht had his best game so far in the NBA on Nov. 19 in a 124-118 victory over the Utah Jazz at home. He scored a career-high 37 points, built on nine 3-pointers made, which tied an NBA rookie record, to go along with five rebounds in 38 minutes.

He also led the Lakers three times in scoring in the 47 games he has played so far.

More telling moving forward for Knecht, superstar teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis as well as coach JJ Redick have full confidence in what he is capable of, ensuring opportunities to play to be there as long as he puts in the work and continue improving.