LaMelo Ball is probably the single most uniquely gifted and frustrating player in the NBA, and on Tuesday night he gave us the full experience in what might go down as the wildest game you see this entire postseason.
First, the essentials: The Charlotte Hornets somehow beat the Miami Heat, 127-126, in overtime to win the East’s No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game. The Heat were eliminated. The Hornets will play either the Magic or the 76ers in a do-or-die game for the East’s No. 8 seed on Friday.
Now, back to Ball, who literally went from losing the game for the Hornets to winning it for them in a span of about 12 seconds. First, after Tyler Herro sunk a corner 3 that left Charlotte clinging to a two-point lead, Ball wasn’t even able to get the ball across half court before coughing it up with a telegraphed, desperately weak pass intended for Sion James that wound up in the hands of Pelle Larsson with 16 seconds to play. Then, just for good measure, he turned around and fouled Herro on a 3-point attempt on the other end.
Herro sunk all three free throws, and just like that, the Hornets went from having the game in hand to needing a game-winning bucket to survive. Which, of course, Ball promptly delivered.
Look at Ball’s box score and it’s a wonderful mess of huge numbers: 30 points on 31 shots, 10 assists, 2 of 16 from 3 in 40 minutes. If you’re a Ball hater, he gave you plenty of material for your morning water-cooler rant — firing up one-legged 3s like he’s in the driveway and missing just about every one of them, getting targeted on ball and losing his man off ball on defense.
And of course, with the game on the line, he decided to get fancy with his handle instead of taking the small angle he had won the first time he turned Mitchell and getting the damn thing across half court. Ball isn’t programmed to do anything the simple way. Going between the legs a second time, and in doing so turning directly back into the teeth of an incoming trap, is the downside of a mix-tape maniac having his hand on the switch of your season.
That said, some freelancing fumbles are just part of the deal with Ball. It’s baked into his wild equation, which has been an overwhelmingly positive one for the Hornets all season. With Ball on the floor this year, Charlotte outscored opponents by just under 10 points per 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass, with an offense in the 97th percentile. With Ball off the court, the Hornets fell to a neutral team with a 36th percentile offense.
Same deal on Tuesday. With Ball on the floor, the Hornets outscored the Heat by 15 points. With him off, the Heat outscored the Hornets by 14. That’s not a coincidence. Ball’s mania isn’t all for show. Keeping tabs on him is a nightmare. He puts constant pressure on a defense and can wiggle his way to any spot on the floor given enough time to fool around. He pushes pace. He’ll shoot from anywhere.
This is a guy who will toss up a one-legged step back from 30 feet when he’s bricked his last seven shots, and he’ll do it confidently. A guy who’ll float a 40-foot alley-oop pass in a two-point do-or-die game with under five minutes to play, and stick it.
Playing basketball against LaMelo Ball is like trying to fight a guy who doesn’t care if he dies. Like trying to play poker against the dude who goes all in every other hand. He might have the aces. He might have rags. You can’t feel comfortable sitting across from that kind of cowboy.
That’s the beauty of Ball. It doesn’t matter if it’s the second night of a back to back in January or a one-and-done play-in game in April — he’s playing with the pedal pegged. For much of this game, Miles Bridges was the only other Hornet generating any kind of juice. Kon Knueppel couldn’t make a thing. Brandon Miller was out for much of the first half in foul trouble. Ball had to shoot his way through a lot of his own misses, but he kept going. And when it mattered most, he delivered in a fashion that speaks to the substance in his style.
“That shows growth,” Bridges said of Ball’s decision to turn the corner and get downhill on the game-winning shot. “Before, Melo would have shot a step-back 3 to try to win the game. But he has a different sense of urgency. And he’s a winning player. He always gets talked about as just a player who wants highlights and all this. But he truly wants to win, and I feel like it’s on full display right now.”
