Advertisement

NBA: Lonzo Ball blows up with 36 points, 11 assists

Share

Lonzo Ball put on his purple Kobe AD shoes and set Las Vegas Summer League ablaze on Wednesday night. He told reporters after the game he had a “Mamba mentality,” a reference to Kobe Bryant’s nickname.

Ball finished with 36 points with 11 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks in the Lakers’ 103-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers played without Markelle Fultz, whom they drafted first overall last month.

Second-year player Ivica Zubac finished with 21 points, two steals and two blocks.

The Lakers will play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday at 7:30 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Advertisement

Anigbogu signs

Rookie center Ike Anigbogu, Ball’s former teammate at UCLA, signed with the Indiana Pacers. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Anigbogu, who is 6-foot-10, was the 47th overall pick in the draft. He played one season at UCLA and averaged 4.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks.

NBA eliminates some timeouts

The NBA wants to see the finish of its games go a bit more quickly.

The league’s Board of Governors unanimously approved changes that will potentially eliminate four timeouts a game, help speed up the final minutes and emphasize a timely resumption of play after halftime.

The changes all go into effect this coming season, the NBA said Tuesday.

Teams will be limited to two timeouts in the final three minutes, instead of having up to three. All four quarters will have two mandatory timeouts, after the seven- and three-minute marks.

“We’re pretty happy with the length of the game,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We were more focused here on the pace and flow of the game. What we heard from our fans, what we heard from many of our teams, was that the end of the games in particular were too choppy. And I think since I was a kid, that was an issue people were talking about, the last two minutes of a game.”

Silver said the full complement of commercial-showing opportunities will still be available to the league’s broadcast partners, and that the league doesn’t believe player in-game rest will be affected by speeding up some aspects.

Advertisement

Also, all halftimes will be 15 minutes and delay of game penalties will be issued if teams are not ready to immediately play when intermission ends.

The league also changed the trade deadline, moving it up so teams would not have their rosters significantly altered during the All-Star break.

This deadline next season will be Feb. 8 — 10 days before the All-Star Game in Los Angeles. Under the old system the deadline would have been Feb. 22, when teams will be getting ready to resume their seasons after the break.

“It was something we’ve discussed for several years,” Silver said, adding that if an All-Star is traded cross-conference before the game, decisions on what to do will be made on a case-by-case basis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

sports@latimes.com

Advertisement

ALSO

Lakers waive David Nwaba to help make salary cap room to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope reaches deal with Lakers

Lakers’ Lonzo Ball is sidelined against Kings by groin injury

Advertisement