“Realistically you can’t win no championship with three white guys because the foot speed is too slow,” LaVar Ball told the Orange County Register. “I told Lonzo – ‘One of these games you might need to go for 30 or 40 points.’ It turned out the that was the one game. Then once they get to the Elite 8, they’re right there.”
The three white guys Ball is alluding to — T.J. Leaf, Bryce Alford and Thomas Welsh — combined to score 39 points against the Wildcats in Memphis. De’Aaron Fox scored 39 points with Lonzo Ball as his primary defender, who finished with 10 points and 4 turnovers.
The “white guys” comment will get the most attention, but you can’t quickly brush aside the “bad hamstring” excuse. Sure, Ball was limping around a little bit at the end of the game, but Lonzo didn’t claim that he injured his hamstring during the game. LaVar waited a few weeks before giving his son an excuse.
“People thought he was giving up, but he popped his hamstring,” LaVar Ball said. “He said ‘I was trying to run, but my hamstring was pulled.’ But he’s never going to make excuses.”
