LaMelo Ball posts double-double, but Hornets lose again. How can they turn it around?
Check off another day on the calendar without the Charlotte Hornets’ Core Four together in game action.
Brandon Miller’s sprained left ankle didn’t heal sufficiently enough in time, sidelining the second-year swingman. And his presence surely could’ve been used in a disappointing 123-114 loss to the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on Thursday night.
In dropping their 13th game in their last 15 outings, the Hornets (7-20) are in a serious free fall and things won’t get any easier in Philadelphia on Friday.
How can they turn it around?
“Just try to be sharp for the whole game,” coach Charles Lee said. “Whatever the game takes, we have to be more dialed in on what the game plan execution is asking us to do and understanding player tendencies.
“I just feel like I want our intensity and purpose to be a lot better. But I do think that competitiveness and the togetherness is really there. And it’s (how do we) clean up some of our process areas.”
LaMelo Ball, in his second game following a seven-game absence, continued to knock off the rust and played through a cut sustained over his left eye just before halftime. Registering a double-double with 34 points and 13 rebounds to go with four rebounds grabs the most attention for Ball.
However, Lee points to other areas of noticeable growth by Ball.
“I think just with his overall intensity level of focus on gameplay execution is just getting better and better game by game,” Lee said. “Even today, as we go out to the court and we are walking through some things, you say a Wizards’ name and he’s like, ‘Boom. This is the tendency. This is the drive tendency, this is what we’ve got to be mindful of.
“So, it’s just good to see that he’s taking ownership of the defensive side of the court, understanding how much talent he has offensively and how much more he has to give defensively. He’s one of the engines of our team and leaders of our team. And so when he takes that on. I think it becomes contagious.”
That’s not all. There’s more.
“The other part that I’ve really been impressed from him is his defensive rebounding,” Lee said. “A lot of times guys are like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do better defensively’ when they’re on the ball. And then as soon off the ball they relax. And I feel like his shift activity has been really good and then not relaxing and helping us possessions has been big time.”
All-Star voting began on Thursday and Lee believes Ball should garner serious consideration to be named one for the first time since his second season. It’s all about Ball’s overall work-rate on the floor for the Hornets.
“His impact on our team can be seen in a lot of different ways,” Lee said. “I’ve been really happy with his defense. And I think offensively, we’ve got to see an array of what he’s capable of doing. The wizardry as I like to usually call it, in terms of he puts us all in a great position.
“He’s making himself better and he’s also making the guys around him better and creating great shot quality for everyone else. I don’t think that there’s a guy in the league that would say he’s an easy matchup. You can’t relax with him. As soon as he crosses halfcourt, his range to be able to shoot, his ability to drive and finish and get fouled and create for others is at an All-Star level. And so I definitely hope he gets an opportunity to play in that game.”
If the Hornets can start collecting some more victories, that would help Ball’s case. As a team, there’s plenty of areas that must be shored up and it was obvious against the Wizards.
“I think some of our shot selection,” Mark Williams said, “(or) defensively whether it was miscommunication on coverages, some long rebounds we didn’t get, it’s a bunch of different things. When they went on their run our offense became a little stagnant too. I think just cleaning that up for us is big.”
Hornets holiday giveaways
With the holidays rapidly approaching, the Hornets are preparing to get into the spirit with a couple of theme nights this month, beginning with Monday’s date against Houston.
The Hornets are partnering with Mooresville-based Lowe’s to give away Hornets’ branded Santa hats to the first 7,500 fans entering Spectrum Center. The team also plans to offer holiday shopping deals at the fan shop as well.
When Charlotte hosts Oklahoma City on Dec. 28 in its final home game of 2024, the team is calling it “Buzz City Kids Night” and the initial 5,000 kids will receive a Hornets Friendship Bracelet. Additionally, there will be a pregame Buzz City Kids Club Party for members with a ticket to the game.
