Lonzo Ball is (Somewhat) Overrated - Celtics Recap

"You want to see the Lakers?" I asked G incredulously when he said that he wanted his Christmas Present to be the Celtics game against the Lakers.

"Yeah, Dad.  I want to see Lonzo Ball"  Now I know that Ball was one of G's favorite rookies, but it was odd to me that he wanted to focus on someone who was such a high profile reality star.  If I had a dollar every time that G showed me a scene from "Ball in the Family" on Facebook Live, I would have several dollars.

Saw this look a lot after turnovers

I suppose that I had interest in seeing this train wreck play basketball.  Between his ugly shot, his even uglier mug and the possibility that his Father Lavar would create a scene in the hallowed Garden, my interest was actually pretty high.  (Unfortunately, we learned later that Lavar was in China with his younger son LiAngelo - is that his name - so theatrics was not in the cards for us here in Boston).

While the Celtic were in the midst of a great nine game winning streak after starting the season 0-2 in the aftermath of the Gordon Heyward's broken ankle, we discovered Al Horford was going to miss the game, and Jayson Tatum was also gimpy.  This game, which at the beginning of the year would have been a 30 point blowout, it was possible that the Lakers could make a run.  It would have to be the Kyrie show for us to win.

8pm, Boston MA.  The Garden seemed electric on this otherwise sleepy Wednesday night.  The fans were anxious, just like us to get a look at the Lakers' savior.  And as he was warming up pregame, I told C that he missed 10 shots in a row.  C was unimpressed with my skepticism.

"I've seen him make three in a row" C retorted.  Maybe I was distracted by all of the booing.  Even during warm ups the crowd was booing Ball every time he touched the ball and cheered every time he clanged a three hard off of the iron.  I swear that I still had not seen him make a shot...and it appeared this huge guy in a gold baseball hat agreed as he was yelling at Ball about 10 feet away from us.

The booing continued every time Ball touched the ball.  As the team's point guard, the booing was incessant.  I don't understand all of the hate, but this definitely took  a toll on the young Lakers as the Celtics jumped out to a 33-16 First Quarter lead.  Even the guy in the golden baseball hat was having a good time.

And then with the Second Quarter, the Celtics started going cold.  Tatum left the game in after two rotations halfway through the quarter and the Lakers were starting to heat up - even Ball and his crappy looking shot was banging them home.

Eventually, the Celtics started pulling away and won the game 107-96.  It really was closer than that.  Ball finished with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.  He also had 4 blocks and 2 turnovers.  Not a bad game, but G then goes after the game. 

"I think I wanted Dennis Smith, Jr.'s jersey for Christmas."