Lakers Shut Up Wizards, Win in Overtime

From extra inning to overtime, Wednesday night in Los Angeles was anything but average.

Fewer than 3.5 miles separate Dodger Stadium from Staples Center, as the LA Dodgers lost in extra innings of an outrageous back-and-forth Game 2 of the World Series, while the Los Angeles Lakers launched their late comeback to push their game into overtime before eventually walking away victorious against John Wall and the Washington Wizards.

These were two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum.

For the Dodgers, Wednesday night could be the last home defeat of the season. For the Lakers, the win over the Wizards served as the first home victory of the NBA season and the Lonzo Ball era in Los Angeles.

The hype entering Staples Center arose from Wizards center Marcin Gortat taking to social media to target Ball with Wall, the latter of whom is considered one of the top point guards in the league. Gortat said Wall would "torture" Ball for 48 minutes, so of course, Wednesday's game went 53 minutes, and Wall didn't have one of his best showings of the season against the rookie with a target the size of his father's mouth on his back.

Still, the message out of the Lakers' camp was that targeting any member of the team would not be welcomed behavior.

"I did bring up in shootaround today that look, it's nothing personal, but we defend each other, so if people want to talk about our players, we should be offended, and we should go into that game telling ourselves, 'That's not alright. We're not going to stand for that.'"

When approached on the subject following Wednesday's victory, Ball gave due credit to his teammates playing as a unit and answered that he felt his locker room cohabitants had his back "100 percent."

Whether or not it was spurred by the Wall versus Ball talk, the Lakers played their best game against what is probably the strongest opposition they've faces thus far—no disrespect to the LA Clippers.

"Tonight was probably our best defensive game all year," Ball concluded.

With the Lakers trailing by six points with 1:35 remaining in regulation, the Lakers stepped up. Brandon Ingram finished the sequence with a big time bucket after Lakers coach Luke Walton called an isolation drive. Ingram missed his shot, but the lanky forward got his own rebound and scored the put back with minimal time left on the game clock. And so, the game went into overtime.

Brandon Ingram ties the game with less than a second left! #LakeShow (��: @SpectrumSN, @spectdeportes, & ESPN) pic.twitter.com/eWaZHgyP1e— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 26, 2017

There, Julius Randle continued to play as an athletic undersized center, and the Wizards failed to exploit their size advantage on the offensive end, thanks largely to Randle's defensive flexibility. Randle continues to adjust to a new non-starting role, but the bulky forward is finding solace in the fact that his coach continues to trust him late in close games.

"All our guys should know this: if they're in there and they're playing really hard, and they're playing the way we want them to play, the way they're competing, I've proven I'll leave you in," Walton said in response to a question about Randle starting games versus finishing them. "You're going to finish games for us."

In the extra period, Ball notched two more assists to make it back-to-back 10-assist games for the 19-year-old, and the former UCLA Bruin once again flirted with a triple double: six points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, one steal, one block and only one turnover.

Caldwell-Pope gives the @Lakers the lead! #LakeShow

��: ESPN pic.twitter.com/Lk7Klnumaw— NBA (@NBA) October 26, 2017

Ball, who only made two of his 11 field goal attempts on the night, said after the game, "It would be a lot easier to win if I make some shots, but I'm going to rebound, I'm going to try to defend every time I can, and I'm going to try to find the open man."

While Wall's stat line of 18 points, nine assists, three rebounds and one steal appeared to outshine Ball, the Wizards' point guard turned the ball over four times and shot 7-22 from the field, which wasn't exactly worth writing home about, either.

Most importantly, Ball got the win, as he guarded Wall on the final possession of the game. The Wizards trailed by three points, and Ball managed to do enough to get Wall off target without fouling the 27-year-old former no. 1 overall pick.

With a little help from his friends and another brick from Wall, Ball managed to silence the trash talk without uttering a single word.