CHICAGO (670 The Score) – In what he felt was another positive step in his second game back from a devastating series of left knee injuries, Bulls guard Lonzo Ball had 11 points in just shy of 16 minutes of action and felt pain-free in Chicago’s 139-137 win against Cleveland in overtime Friday at the United Center.
Afterward, Ball was then asked what he has learned in playing two games across the past three nights.
“That I can play, that I belong,” Ball said. “I’m just happy to be here, man. I knew I wanted to be in this position and to be here now, it feels amazing.”
Ball had a quiet first half, scoring three points on 1-of-3 shooting. He then had eight points in his stint in the third quarter, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and a mid-range pull-up jumper. Ball shot 4-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range, and played 15:43 of game time as he remains on a minutes restriction.
“It’s going to get better with each game, just getting the reps in, getting more comfortable with the guys,” Ball said of his performance. “Today was definitely a step in the right direction for me and the team I felt like.”
Ball made his preseason debut Wednesday, scoring 10 points in the Bulls’ win against the Timberwolves. That marked his first NBA game action in 1,006 days. Ball missed more then two-and-a-half years due to left knee pain that necessitated three surgeries in that time frame, the last of which was a rare cartilage transplant.
In two games, Ball has now logged just shy of 31 minutes and scored 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Most of his offense has come from behind the 3-point arc, where he’s 5-of-11. Ball has four rebounds, four assists and one turnover in the two games.
“He’s a helluva player, helluva passer obviously,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine said. “The way he’s playing now, just getting back into it, you can see how good of a player he is without really having any time on the court.
“I walked over to him and was like, ‘You look good, man, how you feel?’ We might have to start pushing that 15 minutes to like 20, 25.”
Ball’s focus will now shift to the regular season, which Chicago opens at New Orleans next Wednesday. He’s set to be a member of the Bulls’ rotation off the bench while continuing to play on a minutes limit. Ball will also be limited to playing in just one end of back-to-back games.
"It's different," Ball said of playing on his minutes restriction. "But I feel like in that 16 minutes, I can impact the game a lot. Just give the best minutes I can and go from there.”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.