NBA scores 2017: Lonzo Ball mania can finally begin & 5 more things from Friday

Ball bounced back beautifully, Giannis still has his eyes on MVP, and more from Friday.

Oct 21, 2017, 12:00 PM UTC

NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Good news, folks: the LONZO BALL BUST METER has swung back the opposite direction. After Thursday’s three-point performance — helped by Patrick Beverley’s bullish defense — Ball flipped the script with a damn near triple-double in his second ever game. It’s the Ball family, and it’s the Lakers, so every Lonzo opinion must be an inferno-level hot take. Thus: I am officially ready to declare Lonzo, even though yesterday he was the worst player in the league, a Hall of Famer who we might as well elect immediately.

Here’s more on Ball and the rest of the league on a lovely Friday night of hoops.

What exactly did Ball do?

It was all about the things that make him great, especially this full-court pass that is just peak Ball.

Ball is a superb rebounder and generally has hyper basketball awareness, something that makes him a good player to have on any team. His scoring showed up on Friday, even some shots in the mid-range area, a range that he most needs to develop. He’s not a good finisher yet, but he can get to the basket. Ball’s not a bust, obviously, despite one bad game. His dad has done him no favors in the way that we talk about him.

One player who had an (expected) great game: Giannis

MVPtetkounmpo is in full swing through Milwaukee’s first two games, with Antetokounmpo dropping 34 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. It came in a futile 19-point loss to Cleveland, but that’s hardly his fault. The Greek Freak hardly missed a shot, too — 15-of-22 from the floor.

One player who had an (unexpected) great game: Nikola Vucevic?

I suppose the one thing that Vucevic does extremely well is score. He did that for Orlando on Friday, dropping in 41 (!!) points on 17-of-22 shooting, and 12 rebounds thrown in for good measure. There’s still not much to his game on the other end, but maybe there are productive minutes on a good team for Vucevic somewhere if he can ever get out of Orlando. (Sorry, Magic, this still ain’t working.)

Maybe the Cavaliers get the No. 1 seed after all?

Look, it’s Cleveland. We have three years of hard evidence that the No. 1 seed isn’t necessarily important to them. But ...

With Gordon Hayward’s injury, the Celtics aren’t quite as serious a threat. The Wizards aren’t deep. Toronto probably took a step back. The Eastern Conference is garbage. Cleveland has started 2-0, which doesn’t really mean anything. But they’re deep — they rolled with a 10-man rotation on Friday — and James is all business. If they’re picking up wins right now, just wait until Isaiah Thomas gets thrown into the mix, too.

Joel Embiid is not perfect

I won’t dwell on this, but Embiid had 11 points and 14 rebounds on 4-of-16 shooting. He’s still a unicorn, but he’s allowed to have a bad game here and there.

Another Laker did well!

Ball hype aside, it might be even more helpful that Brandon Ingram came to play after a tough debut. Los Angeles needs him to take a step forward this season, especially with his efficiency, and the wing dropped 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Good stuff.