Lakers’ Ball looks to rebound with Rondo back
LOS ANGELES — His struggles in the last two games have been so magnified that even Los Angeles Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball pondered why he hasn’t gotten himself more engaged in the two losses.
After the Lakers practiced Tuesday, Ball was asked how he can become more involved.
“Aw, just getting into the flow more,” Ball said. “Like I said, get the rebound. That’s going to be big for me, getting the rebound and being able to push the ball like that. Hit open shots. Play defense.”
In the last two games he had a season-low six points at San Antonio on Saturday night only to reach a new low of four points at Minnesota on Monday night.
He shot only 28.5 percent from the field and 22.2 percent from three-point range during those two games, when he handed out four assists, collected three rebounds and had zero steals.
“Like I said for me, it’s going to start on defense,” Ball said. “Picking up, getting some steals, rebounding the ball. When I do that and my shot starts falling, I’ll just feel more into the game.”
Luke Walton was later questioned about Ball’s lack of focus and whether the coach has seen that in the past.
“Have I seen that before? Yeah,” Walton answered.
So what has the coaching staff done to keep Ball engaged?
“It’s different techniques,” Walton said. “We try them all, whether it’s being hard on him, encouraging him, running more plays for him. But we see it. He’s a young point guard and we’re going to continue to monitor and continue to work on it with him.”
What’s interesting is that when Rajon Rondo was serving his three-game suspension for spitting on and fighting with Houston’s Chris Paul, Ball played his best basketball of the young season.
He averaged 12.6 points on 53.5 percent shooting from the field, including 40 percent from three-point range, during those three games as well as 6.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.6 steals, including five against Denver.
“It’s the professional responsibility to each player to bring what they bring to the table,” Walton said. “And then it’s our responsibility as a coaching staff to push them and put them in places to succeed.”