LaMelo Ball leads Hornets over Magic; NBA shifts start time for next game
LaMelo Ball was back to himself against the Orlando Magic and fans hoping to see him in action during the Charlotte Hornets’ next home game will have to arrive earlier than initially anticipated.
Ball returned to his customary starting spot in the Hornets’ 124-97 victory over Orlando at Kia Center on Thursday night — 24 hours after coming off the bench to preserve his availability — and sparked an offense that was lethargic in Charlotte’s nationally televised loss Wednesday.
In helping lead nearly wire to wire against the Magic, the Hornets’ star guard posted an efficient 16 points to go with seven assists and six rebounds in 28 minutes. By making 6 of 12 attempts and going 4 for 8 beyond the 3-point arc, Ball and the Hornets quickly righted things following a 1-for-15 shooting performance against Cleveland.
“I think we have great vets around the locker room, (guys that have) been around for a good minute,” Brandon Miller said. “So, just kind of keep the mindset of, ‘We play the next day.’ Got Miles (Bridges) getting older, encouraging the young guys, putting that thought in their head, ‘Next game mentality.’”
The Hornets (17-28) won’t have a whole lot of time to recuperate before taking the court again in light of the treacherous conditions expected to blanket the region this weekend.
With a Winter Watch issued, extending from Saturday morning through Monday morning as forecasters are warning of snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 inches along with a possibility of more than an inch of ice on top of that, the impending winter storm caused a change in the Hornets’ schedule.
Since conditions are expected to get worse in the Carolina region as Saturday progresses, the NBA on Thursday night announced the decision to move up the Hornets’ tipoff time against the Washington Wizards to noon instead of its originally scheduled 6 p.m. start.
It’s unclear whether the Hornets’ outing in uptown Monday will also be affected by the storm. Charlotte is slated to host the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m.
Here’s are some of the things of note the Hornets said in Orlando:
On what brings out the team’s best in second night of a back-to-back:
“First game, (when) we lose, of course not excited about that,” Miller said. “So, just kind of picking back up where we left and just picking up our energy. Picking up our energy and just competing at the highest level, and just kind of get a win over a great team in a tough environment.”
On Kon Knueppel’s demeanor:
“He does a great job of staying even-keeled,” coach Charles Lee said. “I had the pleasure of being in San Antonio a little bit during training camp, and I think a big part of Tim Duncan was that he’s just so even-keeled. The highs, the lows never really affected him. You can walk in a gym, you didn’t know if he made 10 in a row or missed 10 in a row. And Kon’s very similar.
“They have this quiet killer instinct to them where you don’t know what’s going on. He’s not going to give his opponent a chance to see where he is emotionally or anything, which is, I think, really important. And even the technical he got (Wednesday) shouldn’t have been a technical. We’ll talk about that a different time.”
On Ryan Kalkbrenner:
“Defensively he’s shown he’s one of the best at altering shots at the rim,” Lee said, “whether he’s blocking them, whether he’s altering them, whether he’s deterring people from even shooting in the paint with his instincts and feel. He did it at Creighton, and he’s doing it here. He’s really picked up a lot of the offensive trends to put himself in the right positions really early on. And then the other part is defensively especially, too, his unselfishness.
“He’s got a little bit of that, like Brook Lopez to me, where he walks away, doesn’t have gaudy defensive rebounding numbers, but our defensive rebounding percentage as a team when he is on the court and overall is really good because he does a good job of keeping whoever’s around him off the glass and helping us secure the ball.
“And then offensively, the unselfishness is there again. All the screen assists, all the offensive rebound tip outs, and working the dunker is a new concept for him, too. And I think his hands are so good, our guys trust him to be able to have some dump-offs or lobs and pick-and-roll situations. And so he’s been a wonderful addition.”
On whether guys held one another accountable for performance in first end of back-to-back:
“Yeah, and that’s where I think that we are growing, and the group is growing together, which I love,” Lee said, “banding together a lot more in those moments. You’re hearing in timeouts, ‘Hey, we’ve just got to get it moving. We’ve just got to be a little bit better defensively.’ And I think because they are saying the right things to one another, they are holding each other accountable, that’s why we are seeing ourselves get better as the game went on.”
On embracing the team’s identity:
“We talk about identity every day,” Lee said. “The first slide of our film session is about our Hornets DNA and what our identity is and what we want to be. And as we go through game to game, we are giving our opponent the proper respect to prepare but trying to do it in our own framework.
“‘What is our defensive identity? How are we going to guard the other team? Within our offensive identity, how are we going to attack that team?’ So, it’s important every day, every practice that we are consistent with that. It’s what helps build that foundation.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 8:18 PM with the headline "LaMelo Ball leads Hornets over Magic; NBA shifts start time for next game."
