Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James comes home to Cleveland…3 lessons!

2. Lonzo played some good “Ball”!

To say Lonzo Ball is struggling to score the basketball is being very, very kind. Lonzo had a bagel against the Orlando Magic and only two points against the Miami Heat.

He broke out of his slump in a big way scoring 15 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out six assists. But the most important aspect of this game, as far as Lonzo is concerned, is that he was aggressive.

When was the last time Lakers fans saw Lonzo make a play like this…

After taking a pass from Kyle Kuzma on the left-wing, Lonzo makes a quick read seeing that Cedi Osman came out on him in an undisciplined close out. Instead of rushing a 3-point shot up, which would be a bad shot, he drives to the basket. With his reputation of being a non-shooter, all the Cavs players stay at home with their man and Lonzo finishes the play with a slam dunk!

This is the definition of aggressiveness that the Lakers need.

How about these plays here. These are more impressive because they happened at crunch time when the Lakers needed it…

The underestimated part of Lonzo Ball’s game is on the defensive end of the floor.

Here he is being posted up by Larry Nance Jr. He pokes the ball out from behind and that starts the fast break. It ends with Caldwell-Pope with a pass to LeBron James for the slam dunk. This was the turning point of the game. The Lakers were in trouble and needed a spark. Lonzo delivered.

Finally…

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1065447681667956739

With the game tied with a little over a minute left in the game, Lonzo Ball gets the ball in the right corner and drives the baseline. With that move, he draws the defense and finds JaVale McGee cutting to the basket for a big-time layup.

This Lakers team is totally different when Lonzo Ball is aggressive.

Speaking of JaVale McGee…