There was a lot of talk about Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball before Wednesday night’s matchup against John Wall and the Washington Wizards, as Wizards center Marcin Gortat and Wall promised to ‘torture’ and ‘show no mercy’ to the rookie.
Ultimately it was Ball and the Lakers that got the last laugh though, as they came away with a hard-fought 102-99 overtime win at Staples Center.
Ball once again did not have an efficient shooting night, as he scored just six points on 2-of-11 shooting. He found other ways to make an impact on the game though, as he contributed eight rebounds, 10 assists, a block, a steal and just one turnover in 40 minutes.
After the game, Lakers head coach Luke Walton commented on his rookie point guard, saying that he finds a way to impact the game even when he’s not scoring, via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Luke On Lonzo: "Even when he misses his shot, he still impacts the game in such a positive way."
Zo finished w/ 6 pts, 8 rebs, 10 assists.
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 26, 2017
Ball was a team-high +13 in his 40 minutes Wednesday night, and given his stat line it is easy to see that he has a big impact on the game. So far in his first four career games, Ball is averaging a near triple-double with 11.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists, although he’s shooting just 31.6 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from three-point range.
Despite the poor shooting percentages, Ball is getting good looks and shooting without hesitation so look for him to continue to do that moving forward, and hopefully a higher percentage of those shots will start to go in.
