Lakers News: Lonzo Ball, Luke Walton Talk Near-Comeback in Loss vs. Pelicans

The Los Angeles Lakers made a surprising comeback in their game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, going on a furious 27-4 run that erased a double-digit deficit and gave them a five-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

The Pelicans responded with an 11-0 run of their own on their way to a 119-112 victory, but the focus after the game was focused on the Lakers' run.

Or, more specifically, who was on the floor during that run. Conspicuously missing was Lonzo Ball, who struggled from the floor on his way to an eight-point, 13-assist, eight-rebound outing. Ball made just three of his 13 shots, and the Lakers were minus-24 with him on the floor.

“I’m happy they came back,” Ball said after the game, per Bill Oram of the O.C. Register. “That was a lineup that was working, leave them in as long as we could. … I was proud of them, coming back from (down) 20 on a team like that.”

Kyle Kuzma, who scored a career-high 20 and was an integral part of the run, said the group of five on the floor was "playing for each other."

“We were playing for each other,” Kuzma said. “We were getting scores, then we were getting stops. Score, stop. That’s how you cut leads and ultimately that’s how you win games, too.”

Ball is off to a shaky start to his NBA career, with his near-triple-double in Phoenix on Friday sandwiched between two poor performances. Patrick Beverley shut Ball down in the Lakers' season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, and he has not been able to find his stroke from beyond the arc.

Lakers coach Luke Walton said there was no overarching reason why Ball and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were both on the bench during their run. 

“I was just searching for lineups,” Walton said. “I was going up and down the bench looking for guys that were going to play at that level.”