The Los Angeles Lakers returned to winning ways by beating the Indiana Pacers 128-117 at Crypto.com Arena on Friday. While Luka Doncic was unquestionably the star of the show, Luke Kennard had another impressive outing as well. Doncic is loving what he is seeing from Kennard and showered praise on him in his postgame press conference.
“I mean, he’s great,” Doncic said. “I’m always telling him, ‘You gotta shoot more.’ There’s a lot of times, I think he could’ve had the shot, but he didn’t shoot it. Just very fun playing with him. He’s a great guy, too, so I’m really glad that he’s on my team, our team.”
Kennard finished with 15 points (6-9 FG), seven rebounds, and three assists in 27 minutes against the Pacers. The 29-year-old went 3-5 from beyond the arc and is now shooting 52.5% from three as a Laker.
Kennard is only attempting 3.1 threes per game, though, and Doncic wants him to shoot more. With all the attention that the Lakers’ big guns draw, he is going to have opportunities, and the six-time All-Star keeps urging him to let it fly.
Doncic isn’t the only one who’d have been sending this message. Lakers head coach JJ Redick stated he was going to encourage Kennard to shoot more and not turn down shots after they had acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline. It looks like he still needs more encouragement.
Someone whom Redick will never have to encourage to shoot more is his Slovenian superstar. Doncic had 44 points (14-25 FG), nine rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks against the Pacers. It was his league-leading 10th 40-point game of the campaign.
Doncic has come under fire lately for his complaining, but there are very few players in the NBA who can produce to the level he does. The Pacers had no answer for him whatsoever here.
Luke Kennard Reacts To Luka Doncic’s Comments
Kennard was informed about Doncic’s comments in his press conference, and he was thrilled to get the compliment from one of the best in the business.
“It’s been great,” Kennard said. “Especially coming from a guy like that, one of the best scorers to ever play the game. It just builds confidence in you as a player to play off of him. He’s going to make the right play. Obviously, he draws a lot of attention on the offensive end. He finds guys, his IQ is very high level. For me, it’s just being ready to shoot the ball when it gets to me.
“It’s definitely a confidence builder,” Kennard added. “I’m excited to keep playing with him and seeing where our chemistry can keep growing.”
These two do have good chemistry together. Two of Doncic’s five assists on the night were to Kennard. A sharpshooter like the latter was always going to thrive next to the former. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka has faced a fair bit of criticism over the years, but he deserves a pat on the back for bringing in Kennard for the underperforming Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick.
The Lakers improved to 38-25 with this win over the Pacers and will take on the New York Knicks next at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
