How Lakers' Luke Kennard is flipping the script in Los Angeles

Luke Kennard doesn't want to "force things" — and he isn't

To be clear, Kennard isn't dead set on getting 15 to 25 shots a night like Doncic and Reaves. Rather, he's comfortable with letting the game come to him. "I never want to try to force things," Kennard told reporters at the Lakers' practice session on Thursday. "I try to make the right play each and every time."

"Forced" might be the last term that anyone would use to describe Kennard's scoring production thus far in this series. Despite the relentlessness of defenders like Amen Thompson and Josh Okogie, the nine-year veteran has been playing the best playoff basketball of his NBA career.

Lakers fans knew that Kennard would bring efficient shooting to the table. To his credit, he's done just that, putting up a scintillating 72.7% shooting clip from beyond the arc and converting on 65.4% of his overall field goals in Games 1 and 2. But it's the versatility of his shot-making that's perhaps most impressive: pulling up in the midrange, creating space with turnaround jumpers and making the right reads in pick-and-roll situations.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick is certainly glad to see Kennard put up all these shots with confidence. "One of the things messaging wise was, 'You shooting six or seven threes a game at 38% for the series is better than you shooting three a game at 45%,'" Redick said of Kennard after Game 1. "We need you to shoot."

Kennard has been in town for a little over two months, but the green light for him to launch his shots is clear as day. Without Doncic and Reaves in the lineup, the Lakers need all the perimeter scoring they can get to help LeBron James carry the load.

James, of course, is no stranger to subverting the expectations of an audience. In his latest act of defiance, the 41-year-old superstar has embraced the role of primary playmaker while also setting the tone defensively for his teammates.

If LBJ is the director of this L.A. production, Kennard is a showstopping performer who's playing his role to a tee. Averaging 25.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals in the first two games of the series, Kennard is turning heads and flipping scripts in Tinseltown.