LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball needed a reset after combining for eight points in Prienu Vytautas’ 91-76 loss to Lietkabelis in Lithuanian (LKL) League play on Saturday. Come Monday, LaVar Ball’s boys got just that, multiplying their scoring output by more than 10 times in total, with the Big Baller Brand CEO standing in as coach, to top the London Lions at the Copper Box Arena, 127-110, in the Big Baller’s London Clash.
Melo needed just three quarters to tally a triple-double. He finished with 39 points, despite whiffing on a fastbreak dunk in the first half and blowing a layup in transition after the break. The 16-year-old had his fair share of airballs from outside, too, but generally did well to score in a variety of ways—from deep threes and floaters to soft finishes and timely putbacks. The 16-year-old also drove and dished his way to 16 assists while collecting 16 rebounds.
Gelo, who declared for the 2018 NBA draft last week, struggled to get shots to drop from the low post and blew a transition dunk of his own, but managed to pile up a team-high 44 points nonetheless. He found better luck from long range, snuck inside for some cleanup points and fed off LaMelo in transition.
Though the Ball brothers did their work against grown men this time—after demolishing the Guangdong Southern Tigers’ youth squad last Tuesday—the Lions were bound to run out of gas, as they did in the second half. While Vytautas was playing its second game in three days, London’s British Basketball League team faced its fourth in five nights.
At present, Vytautas doesn’t have any more Big Baller Brand-sponsored exhibitions on its schedule. The club’s next game is set for Sunday at 7 a.m. PT against LKL powerhouse Lietuvos Rytas at Siemens Arena in Vilnius. Vytautas, with five losses in a row and a dismal 5-23 record, will once again be desperate for a win and a way out of last place in the league.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRbOydAH5RM