LeBron James selflessly credits $18.4M rookie for hard-fought win despite record-breaking triple-double

LeBron James had a historic night in the LA Lakers' hard-fought 128-123 win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. He recorded a 35-point triple-double, his third straight, to lead LA to its seventh win. LeBron broke his own record from five years ago to become the oldest player to record three consecutive triple-doubles.

He carried the Lakers to the win in the second half after Anthony Davis struggled for the first three quarters and exited the contest briefly with foul trouble. However, LeBron selflessly credited the result to Dalton Knecht, the Lakers rookie, who signed a $17.8 million contract.

"We leaned on Dalton Knecht, that's what we did," LeBron said in his walk-out interview. "AD got in foul trouble and our first-round pick hit a hot streak. You know he looked like he was back at Tennesee. So we leaned on him. I just tried to sprinkling a couple plays here and there."

Dalton Knecht finished with 19 points, shooting 5 of 5 from 3-point range. He scored 11 of his 18 points in the second-half comeback after Anthony Davis went to the bench with three minutes left in the third. The Lakers trailed by eight points at that stage. LeBron dished three assists to the rookie wing, who played the sixth-highest minutes and closed the game with the starters.

LeBron James added 12 rebounds and 14 assists to his 35 points, holding the fort down, especially on defense after AD was pulled out.

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Lakers coach JJ Redick echoes LeBron James' appreciation for Dalton Knecht

LeBron James credited Dalton Knecht for keeping the Lakers afloat, and so did coach JJ Redick. He claimed that Knecht was the one to act as the 'catalyst' to the Lakers' comeback.

"I thought he was the catalyst for our comeback," Redick said. "It wasn't just AD being in foul trouble and time and score, it was also just the energy, we for whatever reason, were having trouble getting stops, and had some turnovers. Didn't execute and we kind of lost our life a little bit and thought those back-to-back ones (shots) were huge."

Redick referred to Knecht hitting two consecutive 3s late in the third quarter, which got LA into the game with LeBron and AD on the bench. The Lakers cut the lead to 92-89.

The crowd got into it, and the energy picked up for the Lakers, who got a steal on the next play, followed by Rui Hachimura drawing a shooting foul and making it a one-point game.