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EL SEGUNDO HERALD November 30, 2017 Page 5
Lakers, Rookie Ball Experiencing
Early Season Highs and Lows
By Adam Serrao
Oftentimes, an NBA fan base can be overly
excited when a player is taken high in the draft.
Expectations become understandably high as
a new hope is enlivened for an organization.
Between drafting Julius Randle, D’Angelo
Russell, Brandon Ingram, and even now, Lonzo
Ball, Los Angeles Laker fans know all about
that feeling. A complete rebuild certainly takes
time in a post-Kobe Bryant era. Lakers fans
have also learned that the hard way. There is
no doubting that L.A. is surely inexperienced
up to this point in the regular season and
their unpredictable play does its own part in
portraying that. Not every prospect that puts
on the purple and gold is going to be the
next Kobe--not even Lonzo. Despite various
inconsistencies to start the year, however, an
extremely young Lakers team may just be on
the right track towards success.
The new star of Los Angeles, at least as far as
the Lakers are concerned, is Lonzo Ball. Ball
has been the starting point guard of the Lakers
ever since the first day of the regular season.
Despite Ball’s inconsistent play, head coach Luke
Walton and the rest of the coaching staff have
handled the situation perfectly by keeping the
point guard in the starting lineup, despite his off
days and subpar shooting from the field. “The
benefit is he gets the game experience,” Walton
explained of the sometimes shaky play of Lonzo.
“Whether it’s close games, it’s blowouts, it’s
playing against top elite point guards that do
different things. He gets all that in-game experience
on the go and gets to learn from it all.”
Grading Ball on approximately 20 games
of NBA play after he spent just one season
in college at the age of 20 years old certainly
sounds like an unfair thing to do. When you
play in Los Angeles and you’re the number
two overall pick in the draft, though, it sort of
comes with the territory. Despite what critics
may say of Lonzo, he is certainly young and
inexperienced and at times looks overwhelmed
on the grand stage of the NBA while taking
on superstar veterans like John Wall, Russell
Westbrook and more. Even Kobe had a horrible
first year in the NBA, though, so this isn’t
necessarily the time to pull out the report card
on the first-year guard.
Despite the inexperience and inconsistencies,
however, Ball and the rest of the Lakers
team have shown flashes of brilliance--which
is certainly something that you want to see
from a group of young players. As unlikely as
it may seem, most of that brilliance has come
on the defensive side of the ball. After ranking
dead last in defensive efficiency in each of
the last two seasons, the Lakers--behind Ball,
Ingram and surprising rookie sensation Kyle
Kuzma--were ranking in the league’s top five in
defensive efficiency as of last weekend. While
it is always glaringly obvious when Lonzo
struggles on the offensive side of the court,
Walton enjoys giving the rookie credit for the
team’s newly invigorated defensive efficiency.
“He’s got great anticipation and great hands
as a player already, so he’s able to get a lot
of loose balls for us,” Walton explained. “Or
he comes down and strips offensive rebounds
that guys don’t really see him hanging around,
which gets us extra possessions obviously.”
Those extra possessions have turned into
victories for the Lakers too. Less than two
weeks ago, Ball recorded his second tripledouble
of the season to join Magic Johnson
as the only other rookie in Lakers history with
multiple triple-doubles in their rookie seasons.
Ball recorded 11 points, 16 rebounds and 11
assists in a 127-109 victory over the Denver
Nuggets, showing that when he’s on his game,
Los Angeles can put points up on the scoreboard.
“You should always play better in front
of your fans,” Ball said after that game. “I’m
just trying to put on a good show for them and
win at the same time.” The Lakers were 5-5
at Staples Center dating back to last weekend.
So far in the young season, as Lonzo Ball
goes, so do the Lakers. That’s not to say that
Randle, Ingram and Kuzma, among other
Lakers, have not come through with monster
games at various times during the year. Ball,
however, is the engine that runs the Lakers
offense as the point guard. For all of his good
also certainly comes the bad. Lonzo’s shooting
percentage –which was hovering around 31
percent prior to the game against the Clippers
this past Monday, ranked worst among rookies
who have averaged at least 10 minutes
per game. His three-point percentage--at 25
percent--also ranked last among rookies who
have attempted more than one three-pointer per
game. That poor shooting, from a player who
constantly has the ball in his hands, has done
its part to not only lead to deficits in games,
but also losses this season.
Just like Lonzo, the 2017-18 Lakers team has
been full of good play and bad play so far this
season. That being said, what more can you
expect from a team that is full of youth and
inexperience? The takeaway from the first quarter
of this regular season is that the Lakers are
good enough to at least keep their heads above
the water against elite talent, which should
certainly garner attention from some big-name
free agents come the trade deadline and the
offseason. Once a legitimate, big-name superstar
is added to this core of young talent, the sky
will once again be the limit for the Lakers and
all of their fans. – Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
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El Segundo High Cross Country
Teams Make Historical Statement
By Gregg McMullin
Photos by Tarcis Verfaillie
The El Segundo High School cross country
program has steadily made other South Bay programs
sit up and take notice on how successful
they have become. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams
won the Ocean League title this year--the first
time in school history that each had won a
league title in the same year. Each team qualified
for the CIF prelims and then both teams advanced
to the CIF finals. Each team punctuated their
season with a trip to the CIF State Cross Country
meet in Fresno--also a first in school history.
Garrett Rifkin wrapped up a stellar cross country high school career
by leading the Eagles at the CIF State Cross Country Championship.
At the CIF Finals, held at the Riverside City
Cross Country course, the boys’ team took
fourth place medals home out of 24 teams.
The Eagles were paced by sophomore Arend
Verfaillie, who finished 27th overall with a
time of 16:20. Close behind were Noah Fenton
and Garrett Rifkin, who finished within
a second of Verfaillie at 16:21.4 and 16.21.5
respectively. Rounding out the Eagles were
Ryan Hoerner, Elliott Bijlsma, Calvin Liang
and Benjamin Cooper. It was the highest finish
for an Eagles team at the CIF Division
Finals. They did finish eighth in 2015.
The Lady Eagles finished an eye-popping
third place in arguably one of the most competitive
divisions in the CIF Southern Section.
They edged out perennial powerhouse Bishop
Amat by one point for third place.
Sophomore sensation James Matlosz finished
18th overall and led her team with
a time of 18:35.1. Junior Nikki Fulcomer,
18:44.5, sophomore Sophia Zago, 18:46.0, and
Sophomore sensation James Matlosz led the Lady Eagles at both
the CIF-SS Division Finals and at the State Championship.
Gabby Lee, 19:15.7 all finished in the top 36
out of 169 runners. Seniors Aiyana Verfaillie,
Kate Johnson and Kelly McNamee rounded
out the winning formula for the Eagles.
Much like the boys’ team, this was the best
finish for the Lady Eagles at the CIF Southern
Section Division Finals in school history. In
2010 and 2011, the girls’ team finished fourth.
See Eagles, page 14
El Camino Cross Country Teams
Compete in State Championships
By Coach Dean Lofgren
The El Camino men’s and women’s cross
country teams competed Saturday, November
18 in the CCCAA State Championships held
at Woodward Park in Fresno. The morning
conditions were ideal, as was the course--which
was in the best shape we have seen in years.
The championship races were comprised of
the top 14 teams from Southern California
and the top seven from the north making
the field of 21 teams along with a certain
number of qualifying individuals.
The El Camino women went into the
championship meet ranked 11th in Southern
California with three to four teams from the
north “ranked” ahead. Our typical goal is to
put ourselves in the best position to “hold” our
SoCal place in the face of additional teams
from the north, but understanding being close
See El Camino, page 13
The El Camino women’s cross country team finished 11th in the State Championships in Fresno. Pictured L-R: Coach Dean Lofgren,
Deana Takaoka (South Torrance), Jasmine Guzman (Narbonne), Brianna Harmon (El Segundo), Princess Butler (North Torrance), Sarah
Simpson (Torrance), Savannah Sehenuk (Saugus). Photo by Tom Harmon.