Ball sung to then bulldogged on birthday
Any game or practice day that falls on a Laker’s birthday features a performance of the “Happy Birthday” song by the rookies. On Friday it was one of their own being celebrated: Lonzo Ball turned 20 and his fellow rookies were asked to serenade him in the film room.
They would have done it too if all of them knew the version of “Happy Birthday” he requested.
“Kuz didn’t know the version apparently,” Ball said of Kyle Kuzma. “There’s like the regular version, like the white version, and then like the soul version, black version. I picked the soul one.”
That’s the version written by Stevie Wonder in 1980, 17 years before Ball was born, to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
Unfamiliar, Kuzma opted out of singing, and center Thomas Bryant did too. The pair danced while guard Josh Hart sang solo.
“Kuz has some rhythm, so it was a pretty good performance,” Ball said.
Coach Luke Walton was less forgiving with his review.
“I guess Zo,” Walton said when asked which player has the best singing voice. “I mean he has his own music.”
Ball released a rap single the night of his near triple-double against Phoenix. He offered a snippet of another song Friday.
“Thomas Bryant is the best worst dancer,” Walton said. “Kuzma has got good energy in it. He combines the singing with the dancing and Josh Hart is like the security of the group. He stands there and is kind of quiet and they all have their own role, if they were a boy band.”
That evening, no longer a teen star, Ball took on his next tall task, facing the Toronto Raptors’ allstar point guard Kyle Lowry, whom Ball called a “bulldog.”
Lowry finished with a tripledouble of 12 assists, 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Ball had seven rebounds, six assists and five points in a 101-92 loss.
Walton often muses on the youth of his players who are asked to take on so much.
“I go back and remember what I was doing when I was their age and it was a lot different than what we are asking them to do and the responsibilities and the pressures,” Walton said before the game. “So I tried to, in frustrating moments, put myself in their shoes and remember how young some of them are and the process of making it in the NBA and the time that takes.”
Etc.
The Lakers are making some headway in their quest to become a better defensive team. Heading into Friday’s game, the Lakers ranked 13th in defensive rating and 11th in defensive efficiency. Wednesday marked the first time all season they held an opponent below 100 points. … Walton cited Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as a player who has adapted well to his pass-first offense. Caldwell-Pope, Walton said, is one of the team’s better players when it comes to making hockey assists, or the pass before the pass that leads to the score . ... The Lakers continued to keep Luol Deng inactive Friday. Deng has been inactive in four straight games after starting the opener.
TONIGHT
AT UTAH When: 6 p.m. On the air: TV: Spectrum Sports Net, Spectrum Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330. Update: The new-look Jazz are adjusting to life after Gordon Hayward. On Wednesday they fell to the Phoenix Suns 97-88 for the Suns’ second win of the season. In Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio, Lonzo Ball will face yet another talented point guard, after two straight reigning all-stars in Lowry and the Wizards’ John Wall.