On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Lakers pulled off a shocking 17-point comeback to beat the San Antonio Spurs 116-112, with Lonzo Ball hitting a trio of big three pointers in the victory. Ball finished with 18 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds, two blocks, one steal and 6-10 from three-point land.
Maybe Ball's shot isn't broken? Ball has made 11 of 16 three-pointers since returning from a knee injury. Over his last 20 games, which is a time period that spans over three months, Ball is shooting 41.2 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
Saturday's victory meant LA swept its road trip 4-0, which was the first time the team went 4-0 on the road since 2008-09, when current Lakers coach Luke Walton was a player with the team and had yet to win a championship.
Overall, the Lakers have won five in a row and 17 of their last 24. At 28-34, the Lakers are already two wins better than they were a season ago. Add in that LA still has 20 games to play, with 13 of those 20 games are at STAPLES Center, and the young Lakers continue to grow and improve at a rate faster than most anyone expected.
Walton deserves a healthy pat on the back. Taking into account the offcourt issues and media circus the coach has dealt with originating from Ball's father, Walton deserves consideration for Coach of the Year if the team finishes strong down the stretch.
Back to Saturday night's game in San Antonio, the Lakers did not lead at any point in the first 46 minutes of the regulation 48-minute game. Yet, they won this game thanks largely to the heavily scrutinized three-point shot of the Lakers' talented 20-year-old rookie point guard.
On his eight three-point attempt of the night, Ball made his fourth three-pointer to bring the Lakers within one point with 2:46 remaining. One tick below the two-minutes, Randle made a pair of free throws to give the Lakers their first lead of the game.
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San Antonio seemed stunned, but Pau Gasol, who was Walton's teammate the last time the Lakers went 4-0 on a road trip, hit a 19-foot jump shot to give the home team a one-point lead with a seesaw battle set up down the stretch.
Immediately after Gasol's jumper, Ball's fifth three-point make of the night touched the bottom of the net with 75 seconds remaining in the game and gave the Lakers a two-point lead.
Again, Gasol responded.
This time, the Spaniard managed to draw and make two free throws to tie the game at 109-109 with the game clock into the final minute. Gasol finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks against his former team.
To break the deadlock, Ball stepped up and hit his third three-pointer in the span of 77 seconds to give the Lakers a three-point lead with 42.2 seconds remaining.
A San Antonio turnover led to Ball connecting with Randle on a screen and roll, where Randle converted with his left and handed the Lakers a five-point lead with 10.1 seconds remaining gave the Lakers a healthy cushion.
Though the Spurs made it interesting late, Isaiah Thomas came in to hit a couple free throws and ice the game for good. Thomas led the Lakers' thin bench with 21 points and seven assists in 29 minutes.
Until the fourth quarter, the Lakers did not look like a good bet to win the game. LA started the fourth quarter down by double digits after never leading at any stage in the game. LA was also without the services of Josh Hart (hand) and Brandon Ingram (hip), but San Antonio could counter that handicap with the absence of LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle).
Due to the Lakers' injuries, Walton dug deep into his bench and found the most unlikely of heroes. Former UCLA Bruin Travis Wear stepped forward to make a trio of shots in the fourth quarter. Wear only signed a 10-day contract with the team a day earlier after Corey Brewer negotiated a contract buyout and Hart suffered a fracture in his hand earlier in the week.
"I played with him in Summer League,. so, I know he could shoot it," Ball said to Spectrum SportsNet about Wear after the game. "I told him, 'Just come off the screens and let them go.' He was open and he was knocking them down."
Wear, who has been a standout player with the G-League South Bay Lakers, played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter and scored all seven of his points when the team needed them most.
Talking up Randle's play sounds like a broken record, but the forward put together crucial stretches where he impacted the game on both ends. It was his basket that effectively put the nail in the coffin, even if Rudy Gay's late three-pointer gave the Spurs one final taste of fresh air.
Randle finished the night with a game-high 25 points, along with six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. For the second game in a row, Randle converted nine free throws, though he missed a couple foul shots on this night.
On the night, six different Spurs scored in double figures, and the Lakers matched that balance with six different scorers in double figures of their own.
Notes: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 13 rebounds, 18 points and three steals in 43 minutes on the floor. Kyle Kuzma earned the start for Ingram, and Kuzma finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, two steals nd one assist in 33 minutes. Until the fourth quarter when he involved Wear, Walton primarily stuck with an eight-man rotation in the first half, with Tyler Ennis earning rare minutes. Ivica Zubac continued to earn bench minutes and only managed two points on the night, but the Lakers' backup center contested shots at the rim and avoided fouling.
