Lonzo Ball’s recent return from injury has been a success. First in very limited minutes, but now playing most of the game. The scoring stars in tonight’s Lakers win over the Heat were Isaiah Thomas, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma. But Ball filled the stat-sheet quite nicely. Here’s ESPN.com reporting:
As Lonzo Ball stood at his locker stall, he mumbled about how tired he was.
Despite still feeling some discomfort in his left knee, Ball was back in the starting lineup and had his best game since returning from a sprained left MCL, leaving his fingerprints all over the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-113 rout over the Miami Heat.
Ball filled up the box score with 8 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and a career-high 6 steals in 34 minutes. It was the most minutes Ball has played in his three games back. He missed 15 games because of his MCL injury.
Six Lakers scored in double figures Thursday night, including Isaiah Thomas (29 points and six 3-pointers) and Julius Randle (25 points, 21 coming in the first half), but Lakers coach Luke Walton said Ball was the best player on the floor despite taking only five shots.
