Quick Hitters
Ball’s numbers drop in Under Armour, Lakers win
Lonzo Ball’s stat line was down after two big games. He still had the building buzzing Saturday night at the NBA Summer League.
The Los Angeles Lakers overcame a double-digit deficit to advance to the semifinals with a 115-106 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, with much of the focus again on Ball’s feet.
His choice of footwear has become one of the biggest stories of Summer League. After wearing his own ZO2 shoes in his first two games, which sell for $495 under his family’s independent Big Baller Brand, Ball wore the Nike Kobe AD and a James Harden signature Adidas in the following games. It was Under Armour’s turn Saturday when Ball played in a pair from Stephen Curry’s signature line.
“When I wake up, I decide that,” Ball told ESPN.
When asked if the shoe rotation is part of a bigger plan, the No. 2 overall pick replied, “You could say that.”
Ball had 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Vander Blue and No. 27 overall pick Kyle Kuzma carried the offensive load. Blue scored 27 and buried a 3-pointer with 1:07 left to give the Lakers a 111-103 lead. Kuzma added 26.
Ball had a triple-double and a 36-point, eight-rebound, 11-assist performance in his two previous games.
No. 15-seeded Los Angeles (42) advanced to play third-seeded Dallas on Sunday.
“Team effort,” Ball said. “They came through in the fourth quarter and got the win as a collective unit. Moving on.
“Long as we’re winning, (summer league is) successful. That’s all I care about.”
Two weeks of summer play in three cities has been enough for teams to hold out many marquee players late this week, though there was plenty of intensity on the floor Saturday in the quarterfinal round of tournament play in Las Vegas.
The losers go home instead of the semifinal round Sunday.
Bellinger hits for cycle as Wood, Dodgers beat Marlins
MIAMI — Cody Bellinger became the first Dodgers rookie to hit for the cycle and Alex Wood became the first Dodgers pitcher in more than a century to win his first 11 decisions in a season, helping the NL West leaders beat the Miami Marlins 7-1 Saturday night for their eighth straight victory.
Bellinger singled in the first inning, hit a two-run homer in the third, added an RBI double in the fourth and hit his second career triple on the first pitch of the seventh. His triple off Nick Wittgren barely cleared the glove of right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who tried to making a running backhanded catch.
Wood (11-0) struck out 10 in six scoreless innings, allowed only four baserunners and lowered his ERA to 1.56 in 16 games this year.
An angry Yasiel Puig took several steps toward the mound after he was nearly hit by a pitch from Miami’s Jose Urena in the second inning. Puig hit two home runs in Los Angeles’ win Friday, including a go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth inning.
The Dodgers (63-29) climbed 34 games above .500 for the first time and have won 28 of their past 32 games. Their bandwagon included an entire section at Marlins Park, where a group that follows the team on the road unfurled its enormous blue flag with the Dodgers logo during the sixth inning.
Los Angeles took a 5-0 lead in the third when Bellinger hit his 26th homer and Yasmani Grandal added a three-run shot, his 12th.