The Los Angeles Lakers have an impressive array of young, talented players on their roster, and the hope is that they can rebuild their future around them. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, as evidenced by their difficult loss to the Joel Embiid-led Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
In a game that was billed as a shootout between some of the best young players in the league, in the end, it was Embiid who stole the show. Still, the Lakers didn’t fare too badly, almost stealing a win thanks to their offensive rebounding and surprisingly good free throw shooting.
Lonzo Ball, the Lakers rookie point guard, had perhaps his roughest outing of the season, shooting just 1-9 from the field and finding himself planted firmly on the bench in the fourth quarter as Luke Walton believed his missed shots affected the rest of his game. Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma, on the other hand, each posted career-highs in scoring.
Afterwards, ESPN Los Angeles caught up with Ingram, Ball, and Kuzma to get their thoughts on the impressive scoring display put on by the team’s two young forwards:
.@kylekuzma on his career-high.#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/x6IteKKpPW
— ESPNLosAngeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) November 16, 2017
.@B_Ingram13 on his career-high.#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/QXkTZfmmLm
— ESPNLosAngeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) November 16, 2017
.@ZO2_ on Ingram and Kuzma's career-highs.#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/6DdZWkvpCI
— ESPNLosAngeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) November 16, 2017
One thing that stands out is that, despite the individual success experienced by Ingram and Kuzma, none of the young Lakers appear too eager to discuss it. The tough loss to the 76ers, which is their fourth defeat in five games, was weighing heavily on them. Kuzma even brushes off the accolades by saying that he “just made shots”, and that there was “no difference” between this game and other ones as far as his performance goes.
The young Lakers have consistently downplayed individual success and instead focused on getting team wins all season, and these comments fall into line with that goal. That focus will serve them well as they grow together over time.
