Going by the numbers, it looks like Lonzo Ball is starting to get a better feel launching from long distance.

The Los Angeles Lakers rookie notched 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 from downtown, the latter easily his best percentage of his debut season so far, in a 113-106 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday (US time).

Ball has been maligned for his atrocious shooting clip, but in the past 5 games his numbers aren't anything to scoff at.

His 3-point percentage is up to 47% (16 of 34) in that stretch with the same clip from the floor overall, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

In three games against the defending champion Warriors this campaign, Ball has made 57.8% from behind the arc (11 of 19).

"He likes to shoot against us," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Friday's game. "Apparently he can't shoot against anybody else but he shoots against us."

If Ball can continue to hit his outside shots, who knows how better the young, exciting Lakers can get?

On Friday, Kyle Kuzma (27 points and 14 rebounds) paced the Lakers, who had taken the Warriors to overtime in their two previous meetings this season.

Julius Randle added 21 points for the Lakers (11-19), who were coming off a 122-116 win at Houston.

Kevin Durant had 33 points to lead the Warriors.

In other games, Russell Westbrook hit the winning 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left to lift Oklahoma City past Atlanta 120-117.

Westbrook finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony finished with 24 points and Paul George scored 17 for the Thunder.

In Houston, Austin Rivers scored 30 of his team-high 36 points on 10 of 18 shooting in the second half, drilling 5 of 10 3-pointers down the stretch, as the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers downed the Rockets 128-118.

The loss spoiled another breathtaking performance from Rockets guard James Harden, who posted his second consecutive 51-point outing.

-- With a report from Reuters

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