Hornets Lose to Lakers in OT

LaMelo Ball had a spectacular game, getting a triple double, with 25 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, but the Charlotte Hornets still could not pull out an overtime victory against the Los Angeles Lakers, losing 126-123 Monday night.

The two teams played a nip and tuck first half. Ball, Gordon Hayward, Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier all scored in double figures for the Hornets, while Anthony Davis, Carmelo Anthony, and Russell Westbrook did most of the work for the Lakers.

In the first two quarters, the Lakers threatened to take a double digit lead, but in both quarters, the Hornets were able to make up the deficit and get back in the game. Going into the locker room, Charlotte trailed 61-60.

Bridges threw a give-and-go pass to Mason Plumlee to start the third quarter. Rozier scored eight points as part of a 12-3 run, in favor of the Hornets. Charlotte soon relinquished the lead on an 11-0 run by the Lakers. Kelly Oubre Jr. hit a shot from downtown, which quieted the crowd for a short time, but a chaotic end to the quarter went solely to the Lakers.

Rozier was called for the Hornets third delay of game after he knocked the ball away while trying to put his shoe back on. After the Lakers made the free throw, the Hornets had problems inbounding the ball and it got into the hand of former Hornet Malik Monk. He attempted a shot from half court and it found the bottom of the net. Those last second points pushed the Lakers lead to seven, 94-87 at the end of three.

Rajon Rondo was ejected from the game with just over a minute into the fourth quarter. He hit Rozier in the head as he drove to the basket. The two flagrant foul shots were the only points scored by the Hornets in the first three minutes of the quarter, as the Lakers jumped out to a 14 point lead. Hayward was temporarily able to stop the bleeding, hitting a 3-pointer and the pass from Ball was his tenth assists of the game, giving him his second career triple double. The basket trimmed the Lakers lead down to eight.

A short time later, the Hornets were down by nine and Ball was fouled trying to make a layup. The Lakers strongly disagreed with the call and got their second delay of game penalty. Westbrook and Anthony both received technical fouls for aggressively arguing with the delay of game penalty. Ball converted on all five of his free throw attempts and cut the lead to four. After some back and forth play from both teams, Ball found Bridges in transition for a wide open three to tie the game with 23.7 seconds remaining.

Davis, after holding the ball for 15 seconds, shot a heavily contested jumper and missed. Ball got the rebound with 1.3 seconds left. Bridges had to force up a last second shot attempt, but it failed to even draw iron. The game went into overtime.

The Hornets started overtime 3 of 3 from the field, but the Lakers were able to do the same and took the lead on Anthony’s seventh 3-pointer of the night. Hayward was stripped of the ball and it went out of bounds. The official awarded the ball to the Lakers after Hornets coach James Borrego challenged the call. The Lakers were up by three and the Hornets could not overcome the deficit. They had an opportunity to tie the game, but Rozier’s 3-point attempt was blocked by Davis. The ball was recovered by Cody Martin, but his buzzer beater was an inch or two off.

Anthony Davis had a game high 32 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists. Russell Westbrook had a triple double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists. Carmelo Anthony had 29 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist.

In conjunction with LaMelo Balls’ triple double, Terry Rozier had 29 points and Gordon Hayward had 21 points. Miles Bridges finished the game with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Mason Plumlee had a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lakers host Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat Wednesday night. The Hornets have one more game to go on their West Coast road trip against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday as well.