When you hit a career-best 10 shots beyond the 3-point arc and spur the best offensive performance in franchise history, you’re more than qualified to break down other absurd acts.
But even Kelly Oubre Jr. had trouble describing the latest magical outing by the Charlotte Hornets’ star point guard that left people talking yet again. Such is life playing with LaMelo Ball.
“I don’t even think he was trying to go for it,” Oubre said. “None of us were trying to go for numbers today. We were just trying to play hard, do what we do to the best of our abilities.”
Ball’s abilities just happen to be different. Watching him register his fourth triple-double of the season in the Hornets’ 158-126 win over Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Wednesday night almost left Oubre in awe. He conjured up a conversation with Ball on the bench and delivered his thoughts.
“I told him, I was like, ‘Bruh, you hard, you tough,’ ” Oubre said. “That’s all I could say to him because I looked up and he has 29 points, 13-something and 10-something and I’m like, ‘Bro, how?’ But that just goes to show you his evolution as a player and what he can do to the game of basketball. And when he succeeds the team succeeds, too, and I’m just so proud of him for staying with it and not giving up.”
By pumping in 29 points, distributing 13 assists and snatching 10 rebounds, Ball propelled his 6-foot-7, 185-pound frame into rare air. He tied the Hornets’ all-time mark for most triple-doubles in a single season, matching the four Anthony Mason produced in 1996-97. He’s now also tied for second in team history with seven triple-doubles and trails Mason by just two. In less than two seasons.
Ball joins Luka Doncic (21), Magic Johnson (7) and LeBron James as the fourth player in NBA history to amass at least five triple-doubles before turning 21 years old. Those accolades don’t exactly have him doing cartwheels, though.
“Nothing really,” Ball said about what it means to hear him listed with those names. “Just trying to keep winning. We’ve got goals, trying to make the playoffs, stuff like that. So honestly just trying to get wins. I feel like the main picture and the main goal is just the wins for real. If that’s a lot of points, a little points, a lot of assists. ... Just anything. Just getting a ‘dub.’ ”
Igniting the Hornets in the third quarter with an 11-point, five-rebound effort and teaming with the hot hand of Oubre — who had franchise-record 39 points off the bench — powered them to their fourth win over Indiana this season. Ball’s spark allowed the Hornets to put the clamps down on the Pacers following a lackadaisical defensive showing in the first half and they fed off his play.
That’s not by accident.
“Definitely being a point guard, I feel like how you go, that’s how the team goes,” Ball said. “So definitely getting good starts I feel like just helps throughout the whole program — everybody. So if I come in with energy, I feel like it’s going to trickle down and everybody can come with some energy.”
There was undoubtedly a boisterous bounce in Ball’s game against the Pacers. Stagnation wasn’t a problem for the Hornets during the second half because he ensured it couldn’t be. Floaters, passes, shots behind the arc. He did it all.
“When he’s playing with great energy and he’s focused defensively,” Hornets coach James Borrego said, “and he’s got his hands on balls, and he’s getting deflections and he’s rebounding the ball, one of our best offenses is when he’s getting stops and he’s getting rebounds and he’s pushing it. That’s probably our best offense moving forward. But his spirit, Melo’s spirit always ignites us. Whether it’s in a practice, a film session, on the floor .... And to be doing what he’s doing at 20, that’s tough to impact a team the way he is doing it right now.”
To exhaustively sum it up: Ball is an All-Star if ever there was one. He deserves it. While getting it done on the court, he’s also changing Charlotte’s culture and making the Hornets relevant nationally. His effectiveness is unmistakable.
“I don’t know what the qualifications are or those people making decisions,” Oubre said, “but if you look at the Charlotte Hornets, there are players that should be in that conversation and he’s one of them for sure.”
Ball’s jerseys aren’t simply the trendy thing to wear strictly at Hornets’ games in Charlotte. They are everywhere. Peer into the stands at opposing arenas, like here in America’s crossroads, and you will notice more than a few teal No. 2 jerseys scattered throughout. Fans scream his name in the same fashion as some of the league’s top superstars, bellowing from the bottom of their lungs with hopes he’ll acknowledge them for the slightest of seconds.
He’s taking the Hornets’ brand to new heights. The Hornets are in the spotlight more and people are noticing, as evidenced by the shifting of Friday’s tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers to a national broadcast on ESPN.
Just for comparison’s sake, Ball is having a better season statistically than Atlanta’s Trae Young in key categories. Young, who is ahead of Ball in the All-Star fan voting, has the edge in points per game (27.7-19.4) and assists (9.3-7.7). But Ball tops Young in rebounds (7.3-3.9), steals (1.5-1) and blocks (0.5-0.1).
He’s about as all-around as it gets.
“Well, he impacts the game in so many ways,” Borrego said. “He’s on the boards, he can move the ball, he can share it, he can score the ball in multiple ways. He’s got his imprints all over these games. He’s one of those guys that can impact winning in so many different ways. Even if he is not scoring at a high level, he can rebound the ball and is obviously a playmaker for us. So special kid, special player.
“To be doing what he’s doing at the age of 20 is special. You don’t see this very often. He really got us going in that third quarter. His defense, his energy, his spirit, he was due for a game like this.”
It’s not the last time he’ll put up those kinds of numbers. The effortless fashion of Ball forces you to keep a close eye on him as a spectator and often shake your head in bewilderment.
There’s no denying he’s unique.
“I just seen him hit a quick burst,” Oubre said. “I seen him have three rebounds coming into the third, I think, and he just had a triple-double when he checked out the game. But that just goes to show you when he’s energized and locked in, all over the place, flying around, finding people, rebounding, doing all the intangible things, that makes us a better team, that everybody is just able to have fun and play off his speed and his pace. So salute to the young boy.”
