On Sunday, Lonzo Ball had his best game of the season at the head of the court defense, including five leads in the Pelicans ’strongest performance of the short season. For the second time in three games, New Orleans kept an opponent under 100 points with the Pelicans winning both tournaments, including Sunday against the Spurs before a 98-95 final.
After the game, Josh Hart, Ball’s guard and longtime team player, spoke highly of his impact on the game.
“He did a good job,” he said. “It was in the passing of the tracks especially late in that third quarter, early in that quarter when they went into a zone and our offense was a bit non-stop and we didn’t get buckets like we used to. He did a great job getting into the passing series, getting us easy baskets and helped us a lot during that time. Obviously, offensively we didn’t put up as many points but he did major plays, main thefts, key explanations to get us easy baskets. It starts with him. He starts at the ball. ”
As well as just praising his performance at night, Hart went on to talk about how effective a Ball can be at night defense and the need for him and his Pelican teammates to hold their point guard to account.
“When he’s locked in, when he’s involved, he’s an amazing defender and we’ve seen today and that’s something we have to expect from him every week. -night, ”Hart said. “We have to hold him accountable when he’s not doing these things. He’s a special guy with an incredible talent of athleticism, instinct and all sorts of things. It was amazing for us today. “
Ball has made a strong start to the year, starting in the previous season and carrying into the opening games of the regular season. While much of the speech has been redesigned and changed in mind on the offensive head, his work on the defensive head has been equally impressive under Stan Van Gundy the this season.