Lonzo Ball’s NBA debut did not go very well thanks to the presence of Patrick Beverley, who made the young Lakers’ star’s evening a miserable experience. However, the scheduling gods gifted Ball the perfect chance to bounce back on Friday night with a game against the Suns and he didn’t disappoint.
Ball went for 29 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists, leading the Lakers to a 132-130 win, and dominated down the stretch with seven of his points coming in the final five minutes of the game. Those buckets proved crucial to getting L.A. its first win of the season, and also showed coach Luke Walton that he has a go-to guy for those late-game situations.
After the game, Walton raved about his young point guard’s poise. Where Ball’s teammates were going crazy after a layup late gave them an eight-point lead, Ball was stoic, understanding there were still 90 seconds remaining. Like so many, Walton couldn’t help himself but compare Ball’s composure in those kinds of moments to a Lakers legend.
Where the common comparison from those around the organization to a legend is Magic Johnson, Walton said his immediate thought was to see Ball’s stoicism as reminiscent of his old teammate Kobe Bryant, as he told the Los Angeles Times.
“I’m not calling him Kobe, but Kobe was the same way,” Walton said. “As a teammate, I knew not even to touch Kobe in those moments because Kobe was locked in. … In those moments, the players that don’t let the pressure get to them, they stay calm.”
It’s high praise, and as Walton was quick to note, he’s not saying Lonzo is Kobe. He’s just noting the similarity in that specific attribute of their mental makeup in those critical moments. If Ball can be that steady hand for the Lakers in crunch time, that would be huge for such a young team.
Among the things that plague teams filled with young players, critical mistakes are chief among them. Ball will undoubtedly have some of those moments — all rookies do — but if he can more often than not be making the right play and the right decision late in the fourth quarter of close games, that will be a big bonus from a 19-year-old point guard.
