Los Angeles Lakers rookie point guard Lonzo Ball struggled with his shot once again Wednesday night in the 115-109 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, and for the second straight game Lakers head coach Luke Walton opted to leave Ball on the bench for the entirety of the fourth quarter.
Ball played just 21 minutes in the game, scoring two points to go along with five rebounds and two assists on 1-of-9 shooting, missing all six of his three-point attempts.
After the game, Walton explained why Ball sat out the entire fourth quarter, saying he had an off night and believes that him missing shots affected the rest of his game, via Tania Ganguli of the L.A. Times:
Luke Walton says he went to Lonzo less tonight because he had an "off night." Said tonight the shot not falling affected the rest of his game.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) November 16, 2017
Ball is shooting just 31.3 percent from the field on the season and 25 percent from three-point range, which are both the worst in the NBA among qualified shooters, but most games even when his shot isn’t falling he is impacting games in other ways and is running Walton’s offense how it should be.
Something looked off Wednesday night though, as Walton noticed, and the result was perhaps the worst game of Ball’s young career.
The Lakers aren’t panicking just yet, as it is only 15 games into his rookie season, but right now shots just aren’t falling for Ball and because of that defenders are guarding him to pass, which limits that ability for him.
Ball and the Lakers return to the court again on Friday night when they host the Phoenix Suns, a team they have already beaten twice this season on the road and Ball had one of his best games against.
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