Injured Ball misses rematch with Fox
Lakers guard sits, while Kings guard tweets frustration
Lonzo Ball figuratively disappeared the last time he played De’aaron Fox in the NCAA Tournament in March.
He didn’t show up for the rematch on Monday night, either.
Literally.
Ball sat with a groin injury, one he’s reportedly been dealing with since last week. And the thousands of basketball fans who filed into the Thomas & Mack Center to stake out their seats were disappointed to find the No. 2 overall pick on the bench in street clothes against the Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers also were without
Josh Hart (ankle) and Kyle Kuzma (cramps). But it was Ball’s absence that took a lot of the luster out of the matchup between the Lakers and Kings, specifically the expected duel with Fox — the No. 5 overall pick.
Fox expressed his disappointment on social media shortly after the reports came out earlier Monday. He tweeted an emoji of someone slapping his forehead. The post has since been deleted.
Fox got the better of Ball in the NCAA tournament, scoring 39 points on just 20 shots, in Kentucky’s 86-75 win over UCLA in the Sweet 16. When asked about his mindset going into that game, Fox said, “(To) shut Lavar Ball up,” referring to Lonzo’s father.
Lonzo Ball had 10 points, eight assists and four turnovers in the loss.
Through two games, Fox is averaging 17.5 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.
He’ll have to wait for the anticipated rematch with Ball, who posted a triple-double — 11 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds — in a 86-81 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday.
Ball is averaging eight points, eight assists and 7.5 rebounds through two games.
Bulls’ lottery pick struggles
Chicago’s Lauri Markkanen proved to be one of the deadliest long-range shooters in college basketball last year in his lone season at Arizona.
On Monday at the NBA Summer League, the 7-footer was a little out of character.
Markkanen shot 1-for-13 from the field, including 0-for-10 from 3-point range, and finished with eight points in the Bulls’ 75-55 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Cox Pavilion.
“Not worried about it,” Markkanen said. “Those kind of days happen. Not often, but sometimes you just have them.”
Markkanen, the No. 7 overall pick, shot 42.3 percent on 3-point attempts at Arizona last year, averaging 15.6 points per game. He wound up drawing comparisons to foreign-born player Dirk Nowitzki the entire season because of his offensive abilities.
But Markkanen, who was born in Finland, couldn’t pinpoint what went wrong in his second Summer League game. He did, however, remain positive.
“Every single (shot) I had, they felt good,” Markkanen said. “And I thought it was going in. So that’s why I’m not too worried. Every one felt good. … I’ve worked on my game so much that I don’t have any reason to get down on myself.”
It wasn’t all bad for Markkanen. He made 6 of 6 shots from the freethrow line, had nine rebounds and blocked four shots in 32 minutes on Monday. He also led the team with 14 points in his debut on Saturday.
A year after winning the summer league title over the Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago fell to 0-2.
Poeltl brings winning attitude
Jakob Poeltl enjoyed team success with the Toronto Raptors in his first NBA Summer League last year.
He is starting to have individual success in year No. 2.
Poeltl, a Utah product, had 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Raptors secured their third consecutive win with an 82-81 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Cox Pavilion.
“We’re out there, five players — we’re trying to play together as a team, move the ball,” Poeltl said. “And I think we’re doing a really good job of that. It’s really everybody trying to show off their individual skills, but all in all, we’ve got to make sure we play as a team together.”
The 7-footer, who was selected ninth overall in the 2016 draft, has been more aggressive under the basket this Summer League and has showed off some low-post polish after playing sparingly in his first NBA season.
“I was trying, really, to work on new stuff,” said Poeltl, who played 11.6 minutes per game last season. “Stuff I worked on throughout the summer.”
But the most important thing to him are the wins. The Raptors went 4-1 and were knocked out by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Summer League quarterfinals last year.
Poeltl would like to go even farther this go-around.
“At the end of the day, that’s what basketball is about — it’s about winning the game,” Poeltl said. “And it’s no different here. It’s about building winning habits. It’s another great opportunity here to try and learn from this kind of stuff.”
Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow @af_ferguson on Twitter. Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal. com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.