Jazz HC Will Hardy Shades Team's Defense of Lakers' Dalton Knecht After 9 3-Pointers

Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy was not pleased to see his defense seemingly ignore Dalton Knecht when he was in the midst of scoring 22 consecutive points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 124-118 win at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night.

Hardy told reporters after the game that everyone in the arena knew Knecht was going to shoot when he get the ball "with the exception of a few people" who were "on our team."

Knecht scored 21 of his 37 points in the third quarter and finished 9-of-12 from three-point shooting overall.

The first half of the game was moving along in such a way that it never seemed like the Jazz were going to take control, but it would be just another normal loss in a season that has already been full of those for this team.

It was 57-44 for the Lakers at halftime. Anthony Davis already had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. LeBron James was closing in one with 10 points and seven assists.

Even early in the third quarter, things did pick up without any indication a historic performance was going to happen. It was with 3:29 remaining in the third that Knecht took over.

The rookie sharpshooter made threes on four consecutive offensive possessions. He tried to make it five, but Cody Williams caught on and decided to foul to prevent him from making the shot.

Knecht made all three free throws, then on the next possession he made another three. He did miss his first attempt behind the arc at the start of the fourth quarter, but he came right back to make another one on the Lakers' next trip up the floor.

It took a total of 5 minutes, 38 seconds of game time for Knecht to score 22 points. It was just the 19th time since the 2000-01 season that a player has scored at least 21 points in a five-minute span.

The Jazz did hold Knecht to just four points on 1-of-3 shooting in the fourth quarter, so they did learn something. It took them too long to focus their attention on the 23-year-old, but at least they got there eventually.

Even entering the season with low expectations, the Jazz are really fighting an uphill battle at this point. They have the worst record in the Western Conference at 3-11. They are one of three teams with a net rating of minus-10 or worse (minus-10.9), along with the Washington Wizards (minus-14.3) and New Orleans Pelicans (minus-11.2).

Hardy and the Jazz will try to find answers on Thursday when they take on the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center.