Lakers Arthur Kaluma scores 34 points in breakout | College News
LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his value for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night time.
He did so in a big manner.
Kaluma had 34 points and 5 rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.
He was 11 for 16 from the sector and six for 10 from three-point vary.
With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a proper thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring position. Carr, the twenty fourth choose in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per recreation.
“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”
Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point taking pictures said in any other case.
“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his toes and scoring from 29 toes out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the followers.
“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”
Kaluma performed for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per recreation, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the sector, 37% from three-point vary.
“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
Kaluma wasn’t alone in serving to the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.
Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob move from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another stable outing with 15 points and 4 rebounds. He shot just 4 for 12 from the sector, but was a plus-15.
But the night time belonged to Kaluma.
“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”
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