CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Few forces are strong enough to withstand the momentum of Zach LaVine when he picks up steam on the way to the basket.
It could be easy for the casual viewer to sum up LaVine’s scoring around the basket as an act of pure physicality. But once he’s in the air, LaVine’s finishing is elevated to something close to an art form — cradle the ball from his fingertips to his palm, tug it right, skip it left, flip it upward off the glass, crush it down past the rim.
This isn’t new for LaVine, but the creative element was missing from his game in the early months of the season. It took until December for LaVine to feel like himself after an offseason left knee surgery.
