An end to the season without stakes gives rise each year to dantesque performances by almost anonymous players. The meeting between the Thunder and the Grizzlies last night, during which only… 13 players in all were mobilized (9 players with 40 minutes or more!), was a good illustration of this.
The most impressive and productive player of the game was playing on the losing team: Kenneth Lofton Jr. For his first career tenure, the rookie from Memphis panicked the counters. Author of a discreet first period with 7 points scored, the interior crushed everything in the second period.
In addition to making his muscles speak in the racquet, facing the frail interiors opposite, the left-hander displayed his touch with a few “jumpers” at mid-distance. Untenable in attack, he scored… 35 points after the break, to finish with a capital statistics line: 42 points (17/25 in shots and 8/12 in throws) and 14 rebounds in 40 minutes.
As ESPN points out, a player had never signed a performance with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds for a first start.
Among players to debut since were first officially tracked in 1970-71, Kenneth Lofton Jr. is the first to post a 40-point, 10-rebound game in his first career start. pic.twitter.com/UFbFP4lHk2
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 10, 2023
Now holder of the record for points scored by a rookie within the franchise, the beautiful bear is only the fifth rookie in the league, over the past thirty years, to leave a game with at least 40 points and 10 rebounds. The other four players in question are Blake Griffin (the latest), Kevin Durant, Elton Brand and Shaquille O’Neal.
Beautiful people therefore to surround the 20-year-old player, whose previous career record, posted a few weeks ago, was… 11 units. Just named Rookie of the Year in the G-League, the undrafted player was hardly used by Taylor Jenkins during the first months of competition.
But successive injuries in the Grizzlies racket (Steven Adams, Brandon Clarke) have allowed the rookie to recover minutes in recent weeks. And even to be offered, a few days ago, a real contract – 7 million dollars over four years – whereas he had until now a “two-way contract”.
This match therefore allowed him to celebrate this new contract as it should and to hope to obtain the opportunity to be mobilized by the Grizzlies during the playoffs.
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.
