Lonzo Ball knows where the camera is
By Tre LyDay
Lonzo Ball showcased his talents and some emotion in the Garden on Tuesday night.
The Lakers traveled to the mecca of basketball on Tuesday night to take on the Knicks. Everyone was in the building to watch the future of the NBA take center stage. From Spike Lee to the Ball family, any other celebrity you can think of and millions of viewers on TV.
It was rookie Lonzo Ball’s first game in the Garden, and by the unwritten rules of the NBA if you are to have a successful career you have to show up when you play in the Garden. I guess Ball’s line of 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists qualifies as showing up.
There are only two Lakers to ever record at least 15-5-5 in the first game at Madison Square Garden. Magic Johnson and Lonzo Ball, that’s it. Lonzo’s night also include this camera mean mug after an alley-oop in the middle of the third quarter.
Ball is known for not showing too much emotion during a game. He never gets too high nor too low. The most emotion I’ve ever seen him show was when Brandon Ingram hit the game-winner against the 76ers last week. Of course he hasn’t had too much to get excited about this season aside from his two triple-doubles this season.
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Ball is still only shooting 32 percent from the floor, but there’s cause for optimism lately. He’s shot 40 percent or better from the floor in five of his last six games. His defense has also been pretty good. He leads the all NBA point guards with 24 blocks this season.
Ball is coming around slowly but surely. He gets a bad wrap sometimes, but in just about any other draft class a rookie averaging nine points, seven rebound and seven assists a night would be borderline rookie of the year candidacy. We’ll see if Ball carries over his performance in the Garden to the rest of the season.