{"id":514135,"date":"2026-01-03T15:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/514135\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:30:14","slug":"cavs-laud-lonzo-balls-professionalism-contributions-after-dnps-hes-just-about-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/514135\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavs laud Lonzo Ball\u2019s professionalism, contributions after DNPs: \u2018He\u2019s just about winning\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cavs laud Lonzo Ball\u2019s professionalism, contributions after DNPs: \u2018He\u2019s just about winning\u2019<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> needed Lonzo Ball<\/a> to step up with Sam Merrill and Dean Wade ruled out on Friday night, and he did not disappoint. Despite missing back-to-back games due to losing a spot in the regular rotation, Ball provided energy on both ends of the floor and showed that he can help when called upon.<\/p>\n

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Though knocking down a pair of corner triples stands out on the stat sheet, it was his offensive flow and defensive prowess that came up big time as a plus-11 in a 113-108 win for the Cavs over a pesky, shorthanded Denver Nuggets bunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncredible,\u201d Jarrett Allen said postgame. \u201cHe shot the open shots. He found the open guy. He hit me on the transition one that I missed the layup, but he was just finding everybody. And getting stops on the defensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cZo has been out for two games, and now to come in and have the immediate impact, not just the three-ball, but coming in, the play he had at the rim defensively, getting steals, getting stops, leading us, huge,\u201d Donovan Mitchell added.<\/p>\n

Lonzo Ball was a catalyst for Cavaliers on Friday night<\/p>\n

Ball came up with some key plays throughout the evening, including two blocks on a red-hot Jamal Murray<\/a> and assists to Mitchell and Allen. Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson<\/a> envisions that as what \u201cPlayoff Zo\u201d could look like and admires Ball\u2019s professionalism over the last week.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust my conversations with him over the past couple of days, he goes, \u2018I just love we\u2019re winning,\u2019\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cHe goes, \u2018Whatever you need from me. You want a DNP? You want me to play? Whatever you need.\u2019 Listen, it\u2019s pro sports. He\u2019s got a reputation in this league. He could have a different slant, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just about winning. He wants to win with his team. He\u2019ll do whatever\u2019s necessary and has been outspoken with me about that. So just respect. So I\u2019m glad. It\u2019s almost like you get rewarded for your spirit and your attitude, team attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cavs forward De\u2019Andre Hunter, a former starter who also has had to sacrifice for the collective betterment, can relate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you see it on every team,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cIt\u2019s just about not having an ego and just being bought into the team goal. We\u2019re trying to win. We\u2019re not trying to focus on personal goals or personal accomplishments. Those come along the way, but we keep doing what we doing, I think just staying together would be big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mitchell is Ball\u2019s fellow 2017 NBA Draft classmate, so he knows they\u2019ve both seen it all over their time in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see him not only respond on the offensive end, but for him to continue to be who he\u2019s been and not pout, not be in bad spirits, that\u2019s a sign of a pro, right,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cComes in, does his work, and then coming out here and impacting the game in ways he knows we needed was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great,\u201d Hunter added. \u201cHe\u2019s playing like Lonzo. The Lonzo we know. He hit open shots. He\u2019s getting guys involved. He\u2019s making passes we don\u2019t even see. That\u2019s just the way to do it. He\u2019s disruptive on the defensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday morning, Mitchell praised Ball\u2019s involvement both off the court and on the sidelines, despite the change.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can\u2019t even tell. You can\u2019t tell at all,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cHe\u2019s still the same guy. Still joking, laughing, camaraderie, like still teaching and still having a good time on the bench and keep supporting, right? I think that\u2019s what makes him special, right? A special human as much as the player. He\u2019s a guy that\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m here to help out.\u2019 When the number is called, he\u2019ll be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for him to have a young guy like Craig Porter come in and continue to play well and to be right in his ear, giving him the tips to succeed, that\u2019s a sign of an unselfish player, but also unselfish human.\u201d<\/p>\n

Atkinson stated that the goal moving forward<\/a> with Ball is to \u201creset physically\u201d and ensure that he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want him to set his records in games played, right? That\u2019s kind of one of my goals for him,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cSo I knew I was going to try to get him some time here. Then we go to San Antonio, we throw that lineup [with Craig Porter Jr.] in, and it works great. And it\u2019s like, \u2018Well, I\u2019m going to keep sticking with it.\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018Yeah, keep that going.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo we\u2019ll see what it looks like going forward. I think it\u2019s going to be mix and match and keep feeling it. But we know we\u2019ve got a guy that\u2019s all about the team. He\u2019ll do whatever we ask, whatever we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Cavs\u2019 Jarrett Allen block perfectly sets up Donovan Mitchell jam vs. Nuggets<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Nuggets PG Jamal Murray\u2019s unconscious 1st half vs. Cavs has fans buzzing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cavs laud Lonzo Ball\u2019s professionalism, contributions after DNPs: \u2018He\u2019s just about winning\u2019 appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,193,14901,5759,187,864,762,1178,3627,4442,6,1166],"class_list":{"0":"post-514135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-craig-porter-jr","11":"tag-dean-wade","12":"tag-denver-nuggets","13":"tag-donovan-mitchell","14":"tag-jamal-murray","15":"tag-jarrett-allen","16":"tag-kenny-atkinson","17":"tag-lonzo-ball","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-sam-merrill"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115831886602426160","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}