SAN ANTONIO _ Lonzo Ball sat on the ground as his fifth three-pointer rattled around in the rim and bounced up a few inches. He jumped up and started to run back on defense as the ball sank through the net to give the Los Angeles Lakers a two-point lead, their largest of the game at that point.
Ball wasn't finished.
On the Lakers' next possession, he coolly sank another to give the Lakers a three-point lead. At the ensuing timeout, Ball ran toward a jubilant bench, gave a hip bump to Tyler Ennis, then sat down like nothing happened. The rookie who spent the entire fall having his shot dissected and ridiculed, clapped back at anyone who didn't believe what he knew all along.
"When I'm open, I'm gonna shoot," Ball said. "People still guarding me going under so I'm gonna keep shooting."
Ball made three three-pointers in the game's final minute and a half to help the Lakers complete a comeback against the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers beat the Spurs, 116-112. They did it after trailing by as many as 17 points.
"I'm happy for him because I felt like he was being judged so hard to start the season," Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. "There's no other rookie in the league that was getting dissected like he was. And he was playing great. He was doing all the things we love about him, he was passing, he was playing defense, he was rebounding. He just was missing his shots. ...
"I'm happy for him that he doesn't have to do that anymore but more importantly it's nice to see that he's starting to figure out how to shoot it from that distance in this league, how to get that shot off, because it helps (us) so much when he's hitting them."
With the win, the Lakers have gone undefeated on their four-game road trip, having beaten the Sacramento Kings, the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat earlier. With the win, the Lakers improved to 28-34, while the Spurs fell to 36-37.
This five-game winning streak is the Lakers' longest of the season. It's the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Lakers have completed a road trip 4-0 or better.
Both teams were shorthanded. The Spurs lacked stars LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard.
The Lakers didn't have Brandon Ingram out with a hip flexor injury, and started Kyle Kuzma. It was Kuzma's first start since Jan. 19 when he started against the Indiana Pacers. This time Kuzma filled in for Ingram at small forward. Rookie guard Josh Hart was back in Los Angeles, recovering from surgery on a broken hand. Corey Brewer had been sent home on Wednesday, having agreed to a buyout with the Lakers. He subsequently signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder and played for them in Portland Saturday night.
Travis Wear signed a 10-day contract to help fill some gaps for the Lakers. Luol Deng, who hasn't played since the season opener, found himself active for the second consecutive game.
Down 10 points with 6:02 remaining in the game, Ball missed a three-pointer. Walton knew how confident his rookie was in his shot, but he added a voice to reinforce that for Ball.
"I probably have as much confidence in him as anyone, taking a 3-point shot," Walton said. "So I saw he was a little frustrated so I just told him at the timeout, that's a great shot and if they go under (the screen) again, shoot it again."
It was the same message Ball had received throughout the season, as he worked to adjust to the NBA game. And as the game tightened and his team brought itself within striking distance, his team needed him.
With 3:50 left in the fourth quarter, Wear scored to cut the Lakers deficit to five, then plucked a rebound off the rim, which led to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hitting a three-pointer to make it a two-point game. Ball hit a three out of the next timeout to make it 105-104.
Julius Randle took it inside through all the Spurs and got fouled as he shot. He made both free throws to give the Lakers their first lead of the game with 1:59 left.
From there, Ball hit two more three-pointers, leaving behind any notion that this was something he couldn't do.
