Originally published by LakersNation.com
When Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves went down due to injury at the end of the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers needed many players to step up and one of the main ones was Luke Kennard. Known primarily as a shooter, Kennard took on more of a playmaking role and was a huge reason why the Lakers were able to take down the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
Kennard is a veteran who has been on a number of teams, but he realized this Lakers group was a special one and was proud of how they really came together in the postseason after those injuries threatened to ruin their season.
“I’m proud of the group,” Kennard said after the Lakers were eliminated. “Everybody sticking together, obviously. That first OKC game in OKC definitely took a turn in our season. Obviously it was late in the year, so it was tough. But I’m proud of the way we stayed together. We found a way.
“We took a couple bad losses there right after that, but ever since then we started playing good basketball. Our group was really close and connected through it all. You don’t always get that in the NBA and I think it just kind of shows how special the group is when you go down two guys like that and you’re able to continue to lift each other up and stay together like that.”
A lot of teams would have crumbled and just bowed out in the first round of the playoffs, but the Lakers refused to go down like that. And not only did they take out the Rockets, but they also gave the Thunder a fight in the second round, even though they were swept.
The Lakers’ acquisition of Kennard at the trade deadline turned out to be an extremely important one that helped the Lakers immensely when it mattered the most. This team showed a lot of character and fight in the playoffs and Kennard was a big piece of that.
Luke Kennard ‘blessed’ to be part of Lakers organization
Kennard is an unrestricted free agent this summer and it is unknown whether he will return to the Lakers this offseason. But no matter where he winds up, the veteran said that he is blessed to be a part of the Lakers organization and doesn’t take playing with his teammates in L.A. for granted.
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When Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves went down due to injury at the end of the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers needed many players to step up and one of the main ones was Luke Kennard. Known primarily as a shooter, Kennard took on more of a playmaking role and was a huge reason why the Lakers were able to take down the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
Kennard is a veteran who has been on a number of teams, but he realized this Lakers group was a special one and was proud of how they really came together in the postseason after those injuries threatened to ruin their season.
“I’m proud of the group,” Kennard said after the Lakers were eliminated. “Everybody sticking together, obviously. That first OKC game in OKC definitely took a turn in our season. Obviously it was late in the year, so it was tough. But I’m proud of the way we stayed together. We found a way.
“We took a couple bad losses there right after that, but ever since then we started playing good basketball. Our group was really close and connected through it all. You don’t always get that in the NBA and I think it just kind of shows how special the group is when you go down two guys like that and you’re able to continue to lift each other up and stay together like that.”
A lot of teams would have crumbled and just bowed out in the first round of the playoffs, but the Lakers refused to go down like that. And not only did they take out the Rockets, but they also gave the Thunder a fight in the second round, even though they were swept.
The Lakers’ acquisition of Kennard at the trade deadline turned out to be an extremely important one that helped the Lakers immensely when it mattered the most. This team showed a lot of character and fight in the playoffs and Kennard was a big piece of that.
Luke Kennard ‘blessed’ to be part of Lakers organization
Kennard is an unrestricted free agent this summer and it is unknown whether he will return to the Lakers this offseason. But no matter where he winds up, the veteran said that he is blessed to be a part of the Lakers organization and doesn’t take playing with his teammates in L.A. for granted.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
