LaMelo Ball looked more like himself against Spurs. The Hornets were better off for it
Three fingers were being flashed by LaMelo Ball frequently and that trademark motion he makes after burying a shot from behind the 3-point arc became a thing again Saturday night.
For the better part of the Charlotte Hornets’ initial four games following the All-Star break, that hadn’t been happening as often as everyone has grown accustomed to. Ball didn’t completely look like the player whose captivating outings propelled NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to tab him as an All-Star Game injury replacement for Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant.
But here was Ball snapping out of his mini funk and being a key contributor in the Hornets’ 123-117 win over San Antonio at Spectrum Center on Saturday night. He turned in his best all-around and most meaningful performance since the All-Star break, igniting his team in the opener of a huge three-game homestand that includes matchups with the Nets and Boston.
“I felt good and moral of the story — we got the win,” Ball said. “So, definitely felt good.”
His foul-prone, low-scoring outing in Cleveland three days earlier was a distant memory, replaced by an effort chock full of numbers and plays more on par with what the Hornets (32-33) are used to. He posted 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, breaking loose often despite being guarded by Dejounte Murray. Ball even put Keldon Jonson on skates in the second quarter with a step-back 3-pointer, another highlight to add to an already impressive reel in his second season.
Ball boasted an overall plus-minus of seven, which was topped only by PJ Washington’s plus-nine margin, and his six fourth-quarter points tied for most on the team. They all came at the free-throw line, aiding a 14-for-14 showing in the final 12 minutes by one of the league’s worst teams at the stripe.
“Yeah, I thought he was fantastic,” coach James Borrego said. “Dejounte is a great defender and they gave him a lot of different coverages, movement. And I thought he did a great job moving the ball, sharing it. And he hit those free throws, made some big plays down the stretch. I thought he showed a lot of growth tonight and took a step in the right direction.”
Ball is at his best when he’s distributing to his teammates, his shots are falling and he’s having fun. That’s where he flourishes. Those things weren’t happening as much leading into their matchup with the Spurs. He averaged 14 points, 4.7 assists and four rebounds and shot 32.7 percent. That’s far below his season-long production of 19.6 points, 7.4 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game.
But he was back to scoring and getting everybody involved, building on the nice synergy he’s created with Montrezl Harrell on the pick-and-roll in their short time together. When the opposition crowds up on Ball as he’s dribbling around Harrell’s screen, the big man has shown he’s adept at getting downhill to the basket and taking advantage of the space.
Harrell’s ferocious finishes have added another dimension and the two-man game with Ball is difficult to stop consistently.
“Facts,” Ball said. “I can shoot the rock. He can roll. That’s pretty much it right there. It’s going to be hard to guard. If you want to take away the three, it’s going to be the roll. If you want to take away the roll, it’s probably going to be a three. So, tough to guard.”
The Hornets’ opponents are taking notice and are tossing different schemes at Ball, attempting to disrupt his rhythm. They know his importance and how much he affects their overall offensive flow.
It’s part of an educational necessity for Ball and others in his position to identify everything.
“You’ve got to throw them in the fire,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “For instance, if everybody’s going to go blitz Melo or Dejounte Murray, they’ve got to figure out how to handle it. How to get away from the blitz, when to get rid of the basketball, when to see it coming, when that happens, where are the opportunities.
“And you can’t just tell people what they are. They have to go out there and screw it up a while and figure it out. So the playing time and being in those situations is what really matters. A lot of these guys that are stars, they weren’t stars on Day 1 when they came into the league. So it takes time, especially guys that played probably one or two years in college.”
Ball believes he has a solid handle on the defenses being hurled at him.
“I feel like I just play basketball and whatever I see,” he said, “I feel like I’ve seen it before because I’ve been playing so long. I feel like I know how to break stuff, know the pass to make. Just the simple move.”
As the Hornets wind down their regular season and push toward a potential playoff berth — they sit in ninth place heading into Sunday’s action — he’s going to have to keep proving he does. The game plan of hounding him isn’t changing anytime soon and navigating through it is critical.
But don’t expect any kind of information overload situation with his teammates.
“We just let him be him,” Terry Rozier said. “I’m a guy that doesn’t talk too much as far as a person’s game, especially Melo. I know he is a guy years above his years. So he’s going to figure it out.
“So I’m just glad he’s going to be able to adjust as he goes. Teams are definitely going to play him tougher. He is an All-Star on the team. So that’s what great players do. They adjust. As teams ramp up their defense, they adjust to it.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
