Minnesota beat Toronto, one hundred and seventeen to ninety-four. Three games, three wins, each by more than twenty points. Noted.
LaMelo Ball played sixteen minutes. Fifteen points, eight assists. Sixteen minutes, I could have timed without looking up from the clock.
Then he was asked how his new teammates were getting used to his passes. He answered this, according to BasketNews: “I actually tried to hit them in the head a couple times in the first day. You know, you get hit in the head one time, you always have your head up. That’s how I was as a kid.”
I read it twice, with my folder open on the kitchen table. My scoresheet has six columns. Points, fouls, time-outs, the rest. There is no column for a pass that arrives on the forehead. An assist is when somebody scores afterwards. On the first day, by his account, some of them were mostly for education.
He is averaging six point three assists this season, seven point three for his career. Anthony Edwards, after the opening game against Miami, said: “I think he’s the best point guard in the league.” Edwards has his head up. I observe.
At our place, on the first day, we show them where the balls are and where the key is. That works too, mind you.
The clock doesn’t argue. Neither do I. A pass to the head on a practice day doesn’t go through the table, so it doesn’t exist on my sheet. The eight against Toronto do.
Sheet entry: assists, eight. Heads up, all of them.
It’s true, we checked: BasketNews.
