Brandon Ingram, Lakers Overcome Lonzo Ball's Shooting Struggles, Beat Grizzlies

Lonzo Ball couldn't solve his shooting struggles, but the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers picked up the slack in a 107-102 win over the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday.The rookie spread the ball around with nine assists, helping six different players finish in double figures.Although the Grizzlies cut a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit down to three in the final minute, the Lakers held on for their first two-game winning streak of the season. They improved to 5-5 on the year with Memphis dropping to 6-4.Ball entered the day making just 30.8 percent of his looks from the field, and his problems continued Sunday, ending his night 3-of-13 from the field and 1-of-8 from three-point range. However, he was able to contribute in other ways with five rebounds and a nine-to-two assist-to-turnover ratio.His court vision was on display with this alley-oop:Fellow rookie Kyle Kuzma, making his second start, showed again why he was one of the draft's biggest steals with 13 points and 12 rebounds. It was his third double-double of the year in just 10 appearances.However, the most important player in the game might have been Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who saved the game when it appeared things were getting out of hand:Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com gave her thoughts on the key sequence:Brook Lopez led the way with 21 points, although this was a complete team effort at the Staples Center.The two squads battled virtually shot for shot in a close first half until an impressive run from Brandon Ingram helped the Lakers pull away for a 62-54 lead at halftime.The second-year player was responsible for the team's last 14 points of the second quarter to give him 18 at halftime on 7-of-9 shooting:This first-quarter dunk against Dillon Brooks was one of the more impressive individual plays of the night:A quiet second half saw him finish the night with 20 points and seven rebounds.It appeared the Lakers were ready to pull away in the third quarter as some big shots from Caldwell-Pope helped the home team build up an 88-70 lead. The defense was also top notch as Memphis was held to just 16 points in the third.Things got closer than expected when Mike Conley keyed a 9-0 run in the last three minutes, cutting the score to 103-100 with 42 seconds remaining. Memphis had the ball with a chance to tie, but Caldwell-Pope got the stop and then hit a jumper to earn some breathing room and help close out the win.Conley had been quiet much of the night but finished with a respectable 23 points to go with Marc Gasol's 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Meanwhile, the biggest star for the visitors was Tyreke Evans, who tallied 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting off the bench.Josh Martin liked what he saw from the veteran guard:Unfortunately, 11-of-37 shooting from three-point range as a team doomed the Grizzlies, who were trying to win back-to-back nights at the Staples Center.Memphis will continue its five-game road trip with a matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday. The Lakers will travel to the East Coast to take on the Boston Celtics Wednesday, followed by road battles against the Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns.
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