Lonzo Ball grabbed a piece of NBA history Saturday night when he grabbed the rebound on a Thon Maker airballed three — it was his 10th rebound of the game, making him the youngest player in NBA history with a triple-double. Ball finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists on the night, he shot 7-of-12 and 3-of-5 from three, and his decision making while playing fast was the best it has been all season.
Just don’t think he was impressed.
“I really don’t care. We took a loss, so, it doesn’t really mean nothing,” Ball said in his televised press conference postgame.
The Lakers, like the rest of the league, had no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored 33 and led the Bucks to the 98-90 win. The Lakers didn’t shoot well (6-of-22 from three) and turned the ball over on 21.8 percent of their possessions, and that did them in against a young and improving Milwaukee team.
That left Ball frustrated.
“No, it don’t matter to me, to be honest,” Ball said of his triple-double record. “I just wanted to win tonight. I thought we put ourself in a good position to get it, but it didn’t happen.”
For Lakers fans, that’s another good sign from the night — Ball puts winning in front of personal stats.
He did a good job pushing the tempo in this game — as he has done all season — but when playing fast he has struggled some with his decision making this season. He has great vision, something especially dangerous in transition, but in the half court he drove into trouble and too often chose ill-advised shots instead of passes to open teammates. Saturday he was making good decisions — nine of his assists were either for threes or dunks. He was getting teammates efficient shots.
Keep doing that and the wins will come eventually. Then he can enjoy his big nights and bits of history.
