LaVar Ball has always had one rule for basketball, shoot a lot, play fast and outscore everyone. That’s how he raised his sons, and it’s how Chino Hills won. Now that LaMelo is struggling in Minnesota, LaVar is sticking to that rule, and he is blaming the Minnesota Timberwolves for getting things wrong.
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LaMelo had another rough night on Wednesday. He scored just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in a 119-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors. It was Minnesota’s first game without Anthony Edwards, who had knee surgery and is expected to miss about two months. With Edwards out, Ball is supposed to lead the offense, and after the loss, people started asking if his style can really carry a team.
However, LaVar was ready with a pushback for all the naysayers.
“Man, all these folks talking about, hey, Melo is playing undisciplined basketball like he played in Chino Hills. But I tell you what, he can’t be throwing up all them shots. No, he can,” LaVar Ball said, clapping back at those criticizing LaMelo Ball’s 27.3% FG rate.
“If he was playing like he was in Chino Hills, he’d be winning every game. But these suckers don’t know how to win every game like that because they don’t understand the coaching style when you’re running and gunning. Whoever can get the most shots up gonna win. Whoever shoot the most threes gonna win.”
LaMelo did take the kind of shots his father wants. But the bigger issue was turnovers. He had eight assists but also six turnovers and five fouls. Late in the game, Curry stole one of his passes, which led to a Lendeborg dunk that put the Warriors up 11.
After all, he was the team’s main offensive piece in the absence of Anthony Edwards, who roughly averaged 33.3 points in the four games that he played. This is exactly why Chris Finch wants Ball to be more aggressive offensively.
“LaMelo and I talked yesterday morning, just about trying to get him a little more aggressive,” he said in a recent conversation. “He’s been so great in making things go, but I feel at times it may have been at the expense of kind of him being his best self with trying to fit in. And now we really need him to be a bit more of a scorer and a playmaker and do everything.”
Of course, this doesn’t come easily. Ball tried his best to make plays, but the Warriors came prepared. They always had multiple defenders crowding him, further clouding his shot selection. He never quite had an easy way to pass the ball or make a basket.
On the other hand, Stephen Curry went ballistic as usual. He scored 44 points individually while rookie Yaxel Lendeborg earned 26 of his own. This left very little space for anyone else to enter the top scorer conversation. However, even had a plan to stop the Warriors.
“Just Golden State, double Curry. Make somebody else make a decision,” he said
His point was that most teams rely on two players to take most of the shots, so you double-team them and make everyone else beat you. He said the same would work against Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and James Harden.
The Wolves started 3-0 but have now lost two in a row. With Edwards out until around the end of the year, they need Ball to step up, whether he follows his coach’s advice or his father’s.