{"id":14318,"date":"2018-01-10T12:29:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T18:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=14318"},"modified":"2018-01-10T12:29:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T18:29:31","slug":"liangelo-ball-lamelo-ball-combine-for-29-points-in-lithuanian-pro-debut-and-lead-prienai-vytautas-to-a-90-80-victory-over-zalgiris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=14318","title":{"rendered":"LiAngelo Ball, LaMelo Ball Combine For 29 Points In Lithuanian Pro Debut, “AND LEAD PRIENAI VYTAUTAS TO A 90-80” Victory Over Zalgiris’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Ball brothers’ first game in Lithuania was everything we hoped it would be.<\/h2>\n

In a capacity standing room only packed gym of about 1,500 people, with journalists from around the world, in the tiny Lithuanian town of Prienai, the Ball brothers, \u00a0LiAngelo and LaMelo, \u00a0combined to score 29 points in their professional basketball debut.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With parents LaVar and Tina Ball sitting courtside, 19-year-old LiAngelo scored 19 points, and his younger brother, LaMelo, finished with 10 and had several no-look assists to lead Prienai Vytautas to a 90-80 victory over the Zalgiris’ team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

“I did all right,” LiAngelo said. “I’m glad we won, but I could do better.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Vytautas, a team that withdrew from the Baltic league days after the brothers joined the team, announced it would form the Big Baller Brand Challenge, a series of five “friendly” games. Vytautas normally plays in both the Lithuanian and Baltic leagues, with the Baltic featuring lower-level competition that also involves teams from Estonia and Latvia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zalgiris’ second-division team featured the top under-18 players from the elite program in Lithuania. While LiAngelo acknowledged that he “wasn’t expecting [the game] to be so physical,” LaMelo said he didn’t think there was a big difference from American basketball.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Not a lot,” LaMelo said. “Just another game to me.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tuesday night’s game was broadcast live on Facebook and had more than 120,000 viewers at times.<\/strong><\/p>\n