LaMelo Ball might have thrown the NBA’s best alley-oop this year as Hornets beat Magic
LaMelo Ball ran along the sideline opposite of the Charlotte Hornets’ bench, thrilled they were taking care of business and doing it with the trademark flair that was missing.
Ball had just gone between his legs to throw a pass off the backboard to a trailing Montrezl Harrell. The Hornets big man caught it in one swoop and threw it down thunderously with two hands, rocking the rim and bringing a delightfully collective cheer.
“I thought it was a cool play,” Ball said. “I seen him coming, so I threw it off the glass for real.”
The kind of scenes that made the Hornets one of the league’s most exciting teams returned for one night at least and it came just in time to keep them in the thick of the race for a home game in next week’s play-in tournament. They handled their business, dismantling Orlando 128-101 at Spectrum Center on Thursday night.
By ending their two-game losing streak, the Hornets (41-39) clawed within a game of Atlanta for ninth place in the Eastern Conference with two games remaining. They match up with Chicago on Friday before returning home for Sunday’s season finale against Washington.
Their season-ending stretch could be favorable for them to move up and catch the Hawks. Either way, it’s apparent they will have to win at least one game on the road in the play-in tournament in order to advance into the actual eight-team field.
“We are kind of in the same place we were last year,” Terry Rozier said. “But our spirits are high. We’ve got a great locker room and we are feeling good about it. If we’ve got to win two tough games to get in there, that’s what it’s got to be. But we are going to be ready to battle for sure.”
Here are some of the main takeaways from the Hornets’ slump-busting win:
ANOTHER RECORD FOR LAMELO
LaMelo Ball added to his impressive resume.
Ball swished a 3-pointer in the third quarter to give him 300 in his career in only 124 games. He is the youngest player in NBA history to nail that many makes beyond the arc. Quickly, he’s silenced the skeptics who were critical of his jumper entering the league.
“It don’t really mean nothing to me,” Ball said. “I just always come in and play my game for real. Like I always say, every time I step on the court I feel like I can shoot. So I just keep shooting. That’s pretty much it.”
Ball was solid with a nice all-around game, nearly collecting a triple-double. He had 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds and played under control.
TERRY REDISCOVERS THE TOUCH
It had been a while since Terry Rozier cracked the 20-point plateau. Rozier, who’s the Hornets’ third-leading scorer, couldn’t get it going all that much offensively over his previous 10 games. He only reached his scoring average of 19.2 once during that span and hadn’t shot the ball very well.
But he rediscovered his stroke against the Magic.
Rozier nailed 9 of 17 attempts and poured in 22 points to go with eight rebounds and three assists, easily his best showing since putting up 25 in their win over Utah on March 25.
“I saw aggression and decisiveness out of him tonight,” coach James Borrego said. “That is what we need from Terry and he was aggressive and decisive and when he does that, he is really tough to guard and he makes us that much better. So, really proud of the effort by Terry.”
When he’s really on, the Hornets are a tough team to beat. They could use more outputs like the one he turned in against the Magic. He was assertive.
“Just being myself,” Rozier said. “Everybody goes through slumps. I’m human. But just being myself and keeping my spirits high. I don’t really worry about what happened yesterday. I just worry about today and moving forward. That’s my mentality always.”
ONE-GAME HIATUS FOR HARRELL
Maybe Montrezl Harrell isn’t the odd man out after all.
After registering his first DNP-Coach’s decision since his arrival from Washington in February in Tuesday’s loss in Miami, Harrell was back in the rotation against the Magic and was a huge part of the Hornets seizing control of things beginning late in the first quarter. He brought immediate effort on the interior, converting buckets in the lane and swatting shots away on defense.
Harrell was perfect from the field in the first half, nailing all five shots. He posted 14 points, two rebounds and a pair of blocks before he was ejected in the fourth quarter after he was slapped with a technical foul due to escalation for getting into a skirmish with Robin Lopez.
“I thought he was great,” Borrego said. “I thought he had great energy. He finished around the rim. I thought he impacted. He had his imprint on this game all over the board, finishing at the rim. His defense was fantastic. So great game by Trez.”
THAT’S OFFENSIVE
Boasting one of the top offenses in the league all season equated to the Hornets moving into uncharted territory. They’ve done something no other team has done in franchise history.
Early in the first quarter, they eclipsed the 2018-19 team for the most points in a single season when they hit the 9,082 mark. They now have 9,200 and have a pair of games to add even more to that record-breaking number.
This story was originally published April 7, 2022 at 9:59 PM.
