Lonzo Ball hysteria reached Bieber-fever level Thursday night, as the UCLA point guard totally dominated down the stretch to pull the Bruins all the way back from a 19-point deficit against Oregon.
With UCLA leading by two and 40 seconds left on the clock, a bucket would have all but sealed the huge Pac-12 win - but Ball wasn't satisfied with just putting a couple points on the board.
Instead, the 19-year-old dropped the mic with an epic triple from well beyond the arc.
Let's break down the play and see how Ball was able to break the Ducks' hearts and send Pauley Pavilion into a frenzy.
Notice Dylan Ennis, one of the premier defenders in the Pac-12, in Ball's pocket despite the fact he's as close to the half-court line as he is to the 3-point arc. With 12 seconds left on the shot clock, the goal here is to force a difficult attempt.
The drawback of guarding Ball tightly so far away from the hoop is that his devastating first step can create a ton of space. With just two dribbles, the freshman phenom sent Ennis sailing, opening up a ton of room for him to operate. This ability to create space is going to be important again in just a second.
There are a few ridiculous things happening here.
1) Ball is basically standing in San Diego when he launches this triple.
2) You can't blame Ennis for allowing this shot to go up, because nobody expected Ball to shoot the ball from San Diego.
3) One possession earlier, Ball destroyed the Ducks' defense with an insane drive to the bucket, so forgive Ennis for not wanting to get torched off the dribble for a second straight time.
Shooters are always taught to follow their shot, primarily because they know better than anybody where the rebound will end up. That's all fine and dandy, but when you know your shot is wet, what's the point of following? Instead, just strike a pose and stunt on the entire world like a boss.
This man sitting courtside captured the reaction of the nation, mouthing "Oh my God" while staring in disbelief at the scoreboard, yearning for a replay to confirm what he witnessed actually just happened.
