On Sunday, Lonzo Ball collected his second career tripled-double with 16 rebounds, 11 points and 11 assists, along with two blocks, as the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center, 127-109.
Only eight days earlier, Ball had become the youngest player to ever achieve the statistical achievement, but a poor performance in front of a national audience had pundits declaring the rookie point guard a bust and even suggesting that he may need to lose his starting spot or go develop in the G-League.
Against the Nuggets on Sunday, though, Ball looked like he belonged in the NBA and looked like the player the Lakers ordained the future of the franchise at his unveiling. By halftime, Ball was clearly tracking for the triple double. The Chino Hills native went to the locker room with nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists to his name.
The Lakers also led by 22 points at the break, as the Nuggets had failed to find any rhythm in the first half. Compounding the visitors' woes, Nuggets coach Mike Malone and Nikola Jokic, arguably the Nuggets' best player, both got ejected from the game for arguing calls with the referees.
When four-time All-Star forward Paul Milsap didn't return from the locker room for the second half, the writing was on the wall. The Nuggets would not be mounting a comeback, and the Lakers went on to cruise to their seventh victory of the season in 17 games.
Ball's 16 rebounds, incidentally, also set a new high mark for most rebounds by a rookie from the class of 2017. As a reminder, Ball is a point guard, but his rebounding has come into greater focus in recent days.
Along with Ball's special night, Lakers forward Julius Randle also scored a season-high and put in his finest performance of the young season. Randle had only appeared for 16 minutes against the Phoenix Suns on Friday. By halftime of Sunday's game, Randle had already logged 17 minutes, during which time the Lakers had outscored the Nuggets by 26 points.
Randle finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the victory and shared locker room honors as the most discussed player for the winning side.
Lakers coach Luke Walton said about his athletic, strong forward, "When he plays like he did tonight, he's as good as anyone in this league."
With the win, the Lakers improved to 7-10. Next, the Chicago Bull come to Staples Center on Tuesday night.
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Walton answering a question on whether he'd seen the type of media scrutiny Ball faces for any player at his age:
"Not at this young of an age. I played, obviously, with (Kobe Bryant) and it was a zoo everywhere we went. When I coached with the Warriors, it was a zoo everywhere that we went. But never with a young man that is his age have I seen…I mean, he got a haircut and I fielded three questions"
