When a bevy of injuries forced Kyle Kuzma to start playing down a position — from power forward to small forward — he embraced it in part because it would allow him to handle the ball more.
Kuzma delivered on that opportunity in Saturday’s comeback win over Memphis, scoring a team-high 25 points, including 15 in the fourth when the Lakers decided to put the ball in his hands.
“Kuz was great down the stretch, kind of putting us on his back and making winning plays when we were stalling out on offense,” coach Luke Walton said.
Kuzma — who shot 5-of-6 from the field in the fourth quarter — did a lot of his damage by running pick-and-rolls with Brook Lopez.
Big men who can handle off of ball screens are a rarity in the NBA, so if Kuzma can foster this skill, it may be a huge factor for the Lakers’ future.
Kuzma spent most of the night (per usual) playing off the ball, and had given the Lakers the lead in the fourth on a spot-up 3-pointer.
But then he received his opportunity to handle the rock, beginning when Lopez stuck his defender with a pick, while Kuzma finished with a trademark sweeping hook shot over former Defensive Player of the Year Marc Gasol.
With the L.A. lead chipped to one with less than four minutes remaining, the Lakers went back to the Kuzma-Lopez connection.
This time, Kuzma showed some savviness by jab-stepping toward Lopez’s screen, getting both his own man and the help defender (Gasol) to slightly cheat that way.
That was enough space for Kuzma to reject the screen, drive left and finish at the cup while drawing contact for an and-1 layup.
While Kuzma was excellent in pick-and-rolls this game, he does have plenty of work ahead of him in order to be proficient in this area.
On the season, he has shot just 13-of-36 out of P&R, per NBA.com, which has him ranked in the league’s 30th percentile. Now, that’s not a terrible starting point for a rookie power forward, but Kuzma will need more reps to reach his potential in this department.
His greenness showed on his next possession. Kuzma tried driving left again, but Gasol successfully walled him off. Lopez was open for a pick-and-pop 3-pointer, yet Kuzma didn’t see him.
Some aggressive defense from Jarrell Martin forced Kuzma to pick up his dribble, but, to his credit, the rookie remained calm under pressure.
He found a cutting Julius Randle in the post and was able to feed him, pushing the Lakers’ lead up to five.
With less than a minute left in a two-possession game, Kuzma wanted the ball one more time for his finale.
“He always asks for shots, that’s nothing new,” Walton laughed.
This time Randle set the screen, and Memphis’ defense switched, leaving power forward JaMychal Green guarding Kuzma.
With the shot clock running down, the rookie took advantage of the mismatch, rising up for a straightaway 3-pointer to put the game on ice.
“He did a hell of a job making a big-time bucket for us,” Walton said. “We were going to him down the stretch.”