Clippers’ Luke Kennard enjoys his role in victory over Lakers

LOS ANGELES — Luke Kennard scored 19 points and was most displeased.

Luke Kennard scored 19 points and was, in a word, “great!”

What a difference a win makes.

After failing to reach double-digit points for six consecutive games, on Wednesday the Clippers’ shooting guard contributed a team-high-tying 19 points (on 7-for-12 shooting, including hitting four of his six 3-point tries) in a 124-115 loss to Sacramento, their third defeat in as many games and seventh in 10 games.

And afterward – despite his own good scoring night – Kennard stewed. Politely, as is his nature, but still, the 25-year-old former Duke star was most dissatisfied by the circumstances and he said so.

“There was kind of a stretch there where we were winning games and our second unit was playing really well,” Kennard said, noting that the Clippers’ reserves’ play – so “L.I.T.”, as fans have coined the trio off the bench of Luke, Isaiah Hartenstein and Terance Mann, to start the season – had dimmed.

In 145 minutes through the Clippers’ first 11 games, that three-man combination had a positive net rating of 25.8. In the 10 games since, their net rating went the other direction – negative 15.9 in 116 minutes.

“It’s on me too,” said Kennard, slumped over the microphone in the home interview room. “I’ve had a rough stretch the last week-and-a-half, couple weeks, when we’ve been losing. I got to be a lot better. I know the coaches and my teammates, they look for me to be aggressive and play with a lot of energy, and I think I haven’t done a great job of that over the last couple of weeks.”

On Friday night, Kennard summed up his feelings about the 119-115 victory over the Lakers by using the same word, “great,” though in much different context.

After scoring 11 of his points in a dagger-plunging, fourth-quarter flourish, going a perfect 4 for 4 (and 3 for 3 from behind the arc) in the final 5:49, Kennard entered the visitors’ interview room at Staples Center (its name for the last time in a meeting between L.A.’s NBA teams) wearing a winner’s grin.

“I mean, it always feels good when you win,” he said. “And it was a big game, close game. I thought we kind of controlled the game throughout the entire night, but they were able to put some runs together throughout the game, but I thought we kept our composure.

“Everybody kind of responded from the other night, from the last few games and it’s something we need to build off of, just keep trusting each other, keep building what we want to do and just start putting together some wins.”

The Clippers (12-11) have another opportunity right away, with a rematch with the Kings on Saturday in Sacramento. There, they’ll try to again follow Tyronn Lue’s game plan, get everyone involved and firing – and get another feel-good W.

Because against the Lakers, it wasn’t only Kennard who got hot.

Marcus Morris Sr. had a season-high 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including going 6 for 9 from deep.

Also, Serge Ibaka — the 6-foot-10 veteran who started alongside 7-footer Ivica Zubac for a second consecutive game – was effective at putting stress on the Lakers’ defense, making all three of his 3-point attempts.

“When the ball’s moving, and you’re making the right play, everyone’s gonna get shots and that’s what makes offense fun,” Lue said after improving to 4-0 against the Lakers during his season-plus tenure as the Clippers head coach.

“But when you hold it, and we take, don’t take the best shots at times, it can get frustrating. Defensively, that’s when it’s supposed to be hard and you don’t want to do it, but offense is supposed to be fun. You’re supposed to enjoy offense, and we haven’t been doing it the last eight, 10 games, so seeing us tonight, that’s how we gotta play. That’s the blueprint right there.”

And Kennard is keen to deliver, aware of how great of an impact his performance has on the Clippers’ prospects.

“They want me to take shots if I have space, kind of like I did, they want me to shoot it no matter the time – well, if it’s like a good shot, time to score,” Kennard said. “In a game like that, with some time left, they want me to shoot the ball and stay aggressive. So they kept telling me that at the timeouts, in a huddle.”

That’s true, Hartenstein said.

“I mean, to me he’s one of the best shooters in the league,” Hartenstein said. “And so that’s what I tell him before every game.”

Including before Friday’s, when Kennard finished 7 for 10 overall and 5 for 8 from behind the arc.

“We executed really well,” Kennard said. “They put pressure on PG a lot and it just kind of opened up everything else for everybody and they made the right plays and I was just able to knock down some shots.”

And, yes, it felt great.