Lonzo Ball made his return to the court on Thursday in Phoenix against the Suns with mixed results. After starting out by making his first two shots, including a three-pointer, Ball made just one of his final seven shots. That shot was a three-pointer in the fourth as part of a strong closing quarter as the Pelicans came away victorious.
After Ball’s return, head coach Alvin Gentry spoke about the third-year point guard in his post-game presser.
“I thought he did a great job. You know, he was limited. We ended up playing him a stretch there where he was king of going pretty good, but had limited minutes. I thought he did a good job. I think he was driving the ball, even though he got an offensive foul, but that doesn’t bother me at all because I think that when we drive that ball in that point, we give ourselves an opportunity to find open shooters and you can see that when we find open shooters, we shoot the ball pretty well.”
Ball finished the night with eight points, five assists, a rebound and three turnovers in 19;11. Ball’s minutes restriction was never explicitly made known, though most assumed it was 20 minutes.
With his minutes restriction, Ball came off the bench in his return. Ball began the year in the starting lineup, though that coincided with a slow start from the Pelicans. With Jrue Holiday and JJ Redick both have strong stretches in Ball’s absence, the odd man out in the starting lineup, for now, could be Ball.