Lonzo Ball posts epic game after tough opener

A day after scoring only three points in his NBA debut, Lonzo Ball lit the afterburners Friday night, and the result left Lakers fans buzzing.

The Lakers rookie scored 29 points (on 12-of-27 shooting), grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out nine assists in the Lakers' 132-130 victory over the Suns. He drained 3s (4-of-9 from behind the arc) and showed the court vision that has made him so dangerous.

How special was that performance? According to ESPN Stats, Ball (19 years, 358 days) almost became the youngest NBA player in history to record a triple-double. LeBron James was 20 years and 20 days old when he performed the feat in 2005. And consider this: Ball's 29 points are the most by a Laker in his first or second career game since at least 1963 (Magic Johnson scored 26 in his NBA debut).

Afterward, coach Luke Walton likened him to another Lakers' great.

“I’m not calling him Kobe (Bryant), but Kobe was the same way,” Walton said (via the LA Times). “As a teammate, I knew not even to touch Kobe in those moments because Kobe was locked in. … In those moments, the players that don’t let the pressure get to them, they stay calm.”

In short, this is the player the Lakers drafted No. 2 overall in the draft. Ball got roughed up on social media after his tough debut, but he knew he would bounce back.

“It’s happened before,” Ball said afterward. “It happened in summer league. It’s happened before in my career. I’m used to it. I know everybody’s going to say everything game by game. If I play bad on Sunday it’s going to be right back to he’s a bust.”