Luke Kennard's Buzzer-Beater Seals Lakers' Ninth Straight Win in Orlando

Luke Kennard adjusted the shooting sleeve on his right arm, caught the inbound pass, and knocked down the most important shot of his Lakers tenure.

Kennard's go-ahead three-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining lifted Los Angeles to a 105-104 comeback win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night, extending the Lakers' winning streak to nine games and giving the team its 46th win of the season. The shot capped a wild final minute in which the Lakers erased a five-point deficit, survived a costly Orlando turnover, and weathered a sequence that included what appeared to be a missed foul call on LeBron James that might otherwise have sent the game to overtime.

With 2.6 seconds left and the Lakers trailing by two, assistant coach Greg St. Jean drew up a baseline inbounds play. Marcus Smart took the ball out of bounds. Austin Reaves stationed himself in the corner and occupied Magic guard Jalen Suggs. James set a screen for Kennard at the top of the arc, then crashed hard toward the rim, dragging Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane into the paint with him. Kennard slipped free on the wing, so open he had a beat to reset his arm sleeve before catching Smart's pass and releasing the shot.

"As soon as he caught it and then released it, yeah, everybody knew it was in," coach JJ Redick said. "We all had that perfect angle."

The ball swished through as the buzzer sounded. Jalen Suggs's desperation full-court heave fell well short, and Kennard was mobbed at midcourt. Teammates Jaxson Hayes and James hoisted him off the floor and carried him several steps through the celebration. Fans above the tunnel chanted "LUUUKE" as the Lakers filtered toward their locker room.

"I didn't really know what was going on, I was just screaming," Kennard said. "I remember somebody, I don't know who it was, somebody picked me up. But it was really cool. It's a cool moment. Haven't had many like that in the NBA, I don't think. It means a lot how excited everybody was. I felt that. And again, just to win a game like that is pretty special and just shows what we have in the locker room."

Kennard, a 29-year-old midseason acquisition who leads the NBA in three-point shooting, said he had been reminded by someone in the organization to trust himself and play aggressively. "He just told me to be yourself and move on from all that," Kennard said. "They need me to be aggressive when I'm out there. Tonight was really good."

The victory carried additional weight beyond the standings. James played in his 1,612th regular-season game, surpassing Robert Parish to set the NBA record for most career appearances. The milestone arrived quietly against the backdrop of the final-second chaos, but it was James who set the decisive screen and drew the double coverage that sprung Kennard free.

The Magic dropped to 38-32 with their fourth consecutive loss. The Lakers, winners of nine straight, sit at 46-25 with the Western Conference playoff seeding picture entering its final stretch.