Damian Lillard vs. Lonzo Ball was a battle between hero and the zero

by **gyso** Fri Nov 03, 2017 11:59 am

https://sports.yahoo.com/damian-lillard-vs-lonzo-ball-battle-hero-zero-120647127.html

In a clash pitting Damian Lillard’s volume scoring versus Lonzo Ball’s pass-first, pass second and passive third brand of offensive management, the Portland Trail Blazers point guard’s 32 points were Exhibit A in how a point guard with a vast array of ways to get his own buckets can wreak a different type of havoc.

During the final seven minutes of a nailbiter, neither team extended their respective leads beyond three points and in the final 18 seconds both teams delivered offensive fireworks. With 16 seconds remaining, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sprinted off a screen, caught the inbound pass, turned and drilled a rainbow three to knot the score up at 110, setting the stage for Lillard to gut L.A.

On the ensuing possession, Lillard dribbled out the clock before getting Brandon Ingram off balance with a nifty crossover move, stepped back and arched a rainbow three of his own through the cylinder to give Portland a 113-110 lead with only 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation.

https://twitter.com/SportsLeakers/status/926314829039616000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fdamian-lillard-vs-lonzo-ball-battle-hero-zero-120647127.html

It was the type of dagger through the heart Lillard has trademarked throughout his criminally underrated career. While Lillard showed moxie by calmly manifesting buckets out of thin air and tallied five assists for good measure on the second night of a back-to-back, his Laker counterpart crawled into a shell for 29 minutes. Kyle Kuzma emerged as the Lakers go-to rookie and carried the Lakers in spurts. In his first 10 minutes, Kuzma scored 11 points and finished with 22 on 10-of-17 shooting.

In stark contrast to Lillard filling up the bucket, Ball shirked from the spotlight, dishing four assists and attempting only two field goals to cap the first scoreless outing of his pro career. Lakers head coach Luke Walton didn’t sound any alarms about Ball’s disappearing act afterwards.

Via ESPN:

“I thought he was a little too passive tonight,” Walton said “I think that’ll continue to be … the hardest thing for young players is the consistency when you just play so many games. He’s so unselfish. We want him to be more aggressive with attacking the defenses. I feel like tonight was one of those nights where he was more passive with it than looking to really attack them.”

Ball’s limited scoring arsenal is no secret, but opposing point guards feasting on Lillard’s phantom defense are a league tradition. Just Wednesday night, rookie Donovan Mitchell, who began the evening averaging a Lonzo-like 33 percent shooting percentage, poured in a season-high 28 points, alongside Ricky Rubio, who notched 30.

Instead of giving the Lakers offense a turbo boost against CJ McCollum and Lillard, Ball seemed more terrified of his own shot. As we embark upon the second month of this season, his 29-point outburst against Phoenix two weeks ago looks more like a blip than a forecast of what’s to come.

Ball’s problems pulling up off his right-handed dribble persist and reared its ugly head on one of his two attempts. In the second quarter, Ball tried dribbling right off a screen and firing a 28-foot pull-up at the rim. His slow-wind up release gave Maurice Harkless just enough time to step up and graze the shot with his outstretched arms.

https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/926331051613478912/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fdamian-lillard-vs-lonzo-ball-battle-hero-zero-120647127.html

Ball’s aversion to looking for his own shot is concerning, and his extremely timid shot selection amplifies a serious problem. The rookie point guards’ immeasurable influence gets the credit for every teammate who advances the ball in transition or makes an extra pass or hockey assist, but the idea that he’s priming the Lakers pump may simply be an optimistic attempt to polish a truth turd.

The Lakers’ on/off numbers suggest they score at a more efficient rate when Ball is on the pine. His passing ability is special, but his handles are suboptimal and until he begins devising ways to create his own shot, Ball may continue being a one-dimensional drag on the offense. He have to pick himself up off the ground quickly for the Lakers matchup against Brooklyn and a motivated D’Angelo Russell on Friday night.

My comments: Follow the link to the article for additional twitter videos. I linked the videos, so maybe that will do. As always, the comments below are as interesting as the actual article.