Rookie forward Brandon Ingram is improving with every passing game during his first year with the Los Angeles Lakers. Although he’s had his fair share of struggles as he adjusts to the NBA level, Ingram has stayed the course and on Friday night was able to score a career-high 17 points in the loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Despite having a career night in the scoring column, Ingram wasn’t pleased after the game. The rookie believes if the team didn’t come out with the win than any individual accomplishment doesn’t matter, via Joey Ramirez of Lakers.com:
“That doesn’t really matter if we don’t win tonight,” Ingram said of his accomplishment.
Head coach Luke Walton, who has had high praise for the Duke product all season long, was impressed with Ingram’s performance, via Ramirez:
“I thought he did a great job of being aggressive tonight and mixing up getting to the rim and taking his jump shots,” head coach Luke Walton said. “He was very solid for us tonight.”
Although coming into the NBA Ingram’s strongest attributes appeared to be on the offensive end of the floor, the rookie has made an impression during the 2016-17 campaign due to his effort defensively.
Ingram’s length and athletic ability have turned out to be a problem for opponents, and while he figures things out offensively, he’s been able to make an impact with his defense.
Unfortunately, the team as whole played poorly on that end of the floor on Friday night giving up 113 points to the Raptors. Ingram and the Lakers will attempt to bounce back on Saturday in the final game of their four-game road trip against the Memphis Grizzlies.