Good news, folks: the LONZO BALL BUST METER has swung back the opposite direction. After Thursday’s three-point performance — helped by Patrick Beverley’s bullish defense — Ball flipped the script with a damn near triple-double in his second ever game. It’s the Ball family, and it’s the Lakers, so every Lonzo opinion must be an inferno-level hot take. Thus: I am officially ready to declare Lonzo, even though yesterday he was the worst player in the league, a Hall of Famer who we might as well elect immediately.
Here’s more on Ball and the rest of the league on a lovely Friday night of hoops.
What exactly did Ball do?
It was all about the things that make him great, especially this full-court pass that is just peak Ball.
Lonzo Ball full court passing is damn good pic.twitter.com/KoA2dSDMmE
— Mo (@SouthBayMo) October 21, 2017
Ball is a superb rebounder and generally has hyper basketball awareness, something that makes him a good player to have on any team. His scoring showed up on Friday, even some shots in the mid-range area, a range that he most needs to develop. He’s not a good finisher yet, but he can get to the basket. Ball’s not a bust, obviously, despite one bad game. His dad has done him no favors in the way that we talk about him.
One player who had an (expected) great game: Giannis
MVPtetkounmpo is in full swing through Milwaukee’s first two games, with Antetokounmpo dropping 34 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. It came in a futile 19-point loss to Cleveland, but that’s hardly his fault. The Greek Freak hardly missed a shot, too — 15-of-22 from the floor.
One player who had an (unexpected) great game: Nikola Vucevic?
I suppose the one thing that Vucevic does extremely well is score. He did that for Orlando on Friday, dropping in 41 (!!) points on 17-of-22 shooting, and 12 rebounds thrown in for good measure. There’s still not much to his game on the other end, but maybe there are productive minutes on a good team for Vucevic somewhere if he can ever get out of Orlando. (Sorry, Magic, this still ain’t working.)
Maybe the Cavaliers get the No. 1 seed after all?
Look, it’s Cleveland. We have three years of hard evidence that the No. 1 seed isn’t necessarily important to them. But ...
With Gordon Hayward’s injury, the Celtics aren’t quite as serious a threat. The Wizards aren’t deep. Toronto probably took a step back. The Eastern Conference is garbage. Cleveland has started 2-0, which doesn’t really mean anything. But they’re deep — they rolled with a 10-man rotation on Friday — and James is all business. If they’re picking up wins right now, just wait until Isaiah Thomas gets thrown into the mix, too.
Joel Embiid is not perfect
I won’t dwell on this, but Embiid had 11 points and 14 rebounds on 4-of-16 shooting. He’s still a unicorn, but he’s allowed to have a bad game here and there.
Another Laker did well!
Ball hype aside, it might be even more helpful that Brandon Ingram came to play after a tough debut. Los Angeles needs him to take a step forward this season, especially with his efficiency, and the wing dropped 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Good stuff.
Friday’s final scores
Cavaliers 116, Bucks 97 (Fear the Sword recap | Brew Hoop recap)
Hornets 109, Hawks 91 (At the Hive recap | Peachtree Hoops recap)
Trail Blazers 114, Pacers 96 (Blazer’s Edge recap | Indy Cornrows recap)
Celtics 102, 76ers 92 (Celtics Blog recap | Liberty Ballers recap)
Wizards 115, Pistons 111 (Bullets Forever recap | Detroit Bad Boys recap)
Nets 126, Magic 121 (Nets Daily recap | Orlando Pinstriped Post)
Timberwolves 100, Jazz 97 (Canis Hoopus recap | SLC Dunk recap)
Kings 93, Mavericks 88 (Sactown Royalty recap | Mavs Moneyball recap)
Warriors 128, Pelicans 120 (Golden State of Mind recap | The Bird Writes recap)
Lakers 132, Suns 130 (Silver Screen & Roll recap | Bright Side of the Sun recap)