What fractured wrist? Hornets’ LaMelo Ball returned like nothing was ever broken
The things that shock the rest of us never surprise LaMelo Ball.
That pass he threw in the first quarter Saturday -- underhand, traveling more than 70 feet before hitting teammate Miles Bridges perfectly for a layup -- is just classic Melo.
“It’s a different way we grew up,” Charlotte Hornets rookie Ball said, after a spectacular return from six weeks off in a 107-94 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Ball was referring to how his father, LaVar, had LaMelo and his two brothers always playing at top speed, always stretching the limits of a basketball court’s dimensions.
Ball threw that pass with a right wrist that was fractured six weeks ago. This was his first game back from an injury that initially was thought to be season-ending. All he did Saturday was play 28 minutes and flirt with a triple-double. He finished with 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
Like virtually everything else about his rookie season, this “comeback game” was a breeze.
“Anxiety? None of that,” Ball said of whether he had butterflies pre-game. “I was cool. Just walked in (like always) at 4:30.”
The spectacular is Ball’s matter-of-fact. Teammate have come to expect as much. The Hornets scored 23 fast-break points Saturday because Ball -- the Hornets’ “engine,” according to coach James Borrego -- was revving straight from tip-off.
“You know if you’re running and you’re open, you’re going to get the ball,” said Bridges, who finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists. “There’s a different type of energy when you know there’s always someone looking up.”
No transition, no minutes limit
Borrego announced pre-game that he would start Ball, rather than work him in initially off the bench, as Borrego has with many other injured players.
The plan was for Devonte Graham to be Ball’s backup and for Ball (and Malik Monk, also back from injury) to play in stints of around five minutes.
Then, right before tip-off, Graham was sidelined by a knee contusion he originally suffered Wednesday against the Boston Celtics. Borrego began stretching Ball’s five-minute stints into seven-ish.
Borrego said he communicated with Ball, to make sure he wasn’t over-extending his rookie. Not that Ball was ever going to complain about playing again.
“It had been a minute,” Ball said of his layoff without games or practice. “That’s what I did as a kid -- not practice, just play” full-speed.
Big stakes, little time
This was the 12th consecutive Hornets victory over the Pistons, who are in tank mode. Eight Detroit players weren’t available, including star Jerami Grant. Losing this game would have been inexcusable with so much at stake in a playoff race.
The Hornets are eighth in the Eastern Conference at 31-32, and if they have any chance of climbing, Sunday’s matchup against the 7th-place Miami Heat is huge. Even if they don’t catch the Heat, 2 1/2 games ahead, a victory Sunday would be big in holding off the Indiana Pacers for play-in tournament seeding.
It’s been so long since the Hornets had stakes like this so late in a season.
“Tomorrow is going to be the game to make a statement,” Bridges said. “No excuses: Play our game, be physical, come out with a ‘W’”
Why not dream big? They got their engine back, and it’s like he never missed a game. You know Ball’s ready.
“My confidence,” Ball reminded, “is always sky-high.”
