The three he hit with about 40 seconds left was some absolute nonsense. What a shot. I love it. I want more doubters. This kid is as special as they come.
Just some cold blooded, difficult, clutch 3's. Incredible shooting display! (Sorry neighbors for yelling so loudly during the final 5 minutes and during those huge shots)
Ready for a little cherry tonight on top of the hot fudge sundae that is Lonzo Ball? Zen and I put our heads together during the 1st half in Game Day and brainstormed and worked on the observation tonight together and we backed up our work (he agreed with me ).... that Lonzo is going to be a stud with his upper body build. The kid's got big shoulders already not even near his prime muscles. I think while he was rehabbing the knee while he couldn't do much else he was also hitting the weights. Why would he not? The guy when he goes to block a shot just wants to stuff it like a volleyball spike and take away any sense of the shooter's manhood and his hand as well if he hits that along with the ball. Beast. I also asked Zen because no one else would answer but he was not willing to humor me and give a straight answer. Who in the league in the open court now is still faster than Lonzo? Wall? Who else? Not by very much I would guess. We finally got ourselves a burner in him on top of everything else he brings. What a stud.
The haters can suck it. Screamin’ A is probably thrilled this game is on a Saturday so he doesn’t have to give Zo any praise tomorrow. Michelle Beadle is probably home crying into her Spurs pillow and I’m thrilled. This kid is special. This is what he did at UCLA, picked his spots offensively all game, got teammates going, then made his big impact with games on the line, stepped up when it was winning time. But because UCLA lost their last game in the tournament and Zo got outplayed by Fox (while his mom just had a stroke and playing through a leg injury), suddenly he was overrated or something. Whatever, people/fans, analysts, current and ex-players that truly know the game know this kid has it. As he grows and only gets better the rest will just have to stop the ridiculous hating/nitpicking, or they’ll continue to look stupid and petty.
I'm not surprised he can catch fire from 3. What I loved most is that he got out of a funk mentally and closed out the game. At some point the 3rd he made a cut into the key, and Randle spotted him out of the post. Zo had almost 2 seconds to just throw up a floater but he passed it out. The next time he touched the ball he drove straight into 4 Spurs out of an inbounds pass and turned it over. It was a bad sequence. Getting out of that funk and then making plays to close out the game is big time. A good night for 'Zo
From that highlight clip I'm most impressed with the block at 0:30. He's not satisfied with the block because he couldn't keep the ball in play. That's what Lonzo is all about. Making winning plays. Making the right plays. The simple plays. His mental make-up and maturity as a rookie is off the charts. He's light years ahead of his peers and it's obvious that he's by far the best prospect in the draft. In my 30 years of watching basketball, I've never seen a player that possesses so many basketball intangibles, starting with his bball IQ, court awareness, natural feel and instincts for the game, ability in clutch situations... the list goes on and on. I often get chills down my spine watching Lonzo play and thinking about our future. I could only imagine how excited Luke is about this kid.
The ferocity of some of his leaps and swings at the ball on those block attempts .... maybe that's internally one of the ways he blows off steam at the stupid things his old man says and does.
Randle and Ingram came into the league and this year they developed into young stars. Zo was a star right away. I honestly think that, it's just that he got disrespected by the mainstream media for his "lack of defense" (?) and the "fact" that he can't shoot. Oh yeah.
Playing with Thomas allows Ball to play off the ball just like he did with Holiday at UCLA. It eases the playmaking burden on him somewhat as well. Ball already has other competent facilitators with Ingram and to some degree Randle. Lopez is also a good passer off the post and at the elbows.
