Here Are All The Highlights From LaMelo And LiAngelo Ball’s Lithuanian Debut

LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball touched down in Lithuania last week to great fanfare as they prepared to begin their professional basketball career for BC Vytautas.

On Tuesday, all the talk and anticipation and crazy statements from LaVar Ball finally gave way to actual basketball being played by the youngest Ball boys as Vytautas took on BC Zalgiris at home. In warmups, it appeared to be a very different vibe than the Ball brothers are probably accustomed to going through in pregame, but the atmosphere was raucous as people packed the small gym for their debut.

And yes, Vytautas’ court is sponsored by Big Baller Brand, with giant BBB logos adorning center court and the restricted areas.

Even the refs rocked BBB logo shirts.

LiAngelo Ball got the starting nod, with LaMelo coming off of the bench for Vytautas, but both quickly made their presence known when they were on the floor. LiAngelo’s early impact came on the defensive end with a couple of quality plays at the rim as he adopted the role of small-ball rim protector. LaMelo, however, announced his arrival in the exact fashion one would have expected from him: hoisting a contested 30-footer.

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/950799787980410883

LaMelo did have a sweet pass on a fastbreak in the first half, dropping it off behind his back to a teammate for a slick dime. The best part was the announce crew on the feed (available through Ball is Life’s Facebook page) saying “that was a fastbreak in BBB manner.”

Gelo had seven first half points, including banging in this three-pointer in the second quarter.

https://twitter.com/jnsanchez/status/950805012283838464

He, like his younger brother, also had some missteps, like this blown layup after a nice steal.

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/950806215537364993

Melo, for his part, had six points in the first half, but had to sit due to foul trouble. He did return in the mid-third quarter and the LaMelo Ball Experience continued with a horrendous deep three followed by a sweet (and unnecessary) up and under layup.

https://twitter.com/jnsanchez/status/950812600585072641

https://twitter.com/jnsanchez/status/950813933807525888

We finally got our first Melo to Gelo connection with a slick drive and dish from LaMelo to his older brother for the easy bucket.

The best part of the game was, easily, the reaction of the announcers every time LaMelo hoisted an ill-advised three-pointer.

LaMelo might have had the most interesting highlights, but LiAngelo showed his skills and was probably the most impressive of the two Ball brothers (which, is probably to be expected considering he’s 19 and LaMelo is 16)

LiAngelo also broke away with a late game dunk to ice a Vytautas 90-80 win in emphatic fashion, with 19 points for the middle Ball brother.

https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/950818329807278080

LaMelo’s efforts at bringing a little extra flair to the game sometimes didn’t go as planned en route to an entertaining 10 point performance.

https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/950818872193626113

You can peep the full highlight video from Overtime here.

Also, the winning team in these “Big Baller Brand Challenge” games gets $2,000 and the MVP of the game gets BBB sneakers, because of course.

Check out our DIME podcast this week with Jim Miller, author of ESPN the book. Subscribe on iTunes.

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