Ball is making a strong case for a selection to an All-NBA Team.
LaMelo Ball has been playing out of his mind and is one of the best fourth-quarter performers in the NBA this season. His spectacular play when it matters the most, in the final frame, was on full display once again on Saturday afternoon at the Spectrum Center, and was the deciding factor in the Charlotte Hornets locking up a win by the skin of their teeth at home, 115-114 against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Ball was somewhat of a nonfactor, scoring only 11 points through the first three quarters, then he exploded like a firecracker on the 4th of July, coming up with an incredible 15 in the final 12 minutes, finishing with 26 points on 7-of-20 from the field, a season-high 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, nine boards and six dimes. Back from a three-game absence, Miles Bridges added 19 points and Josh Green contributed with a season-high 15 points, five rebounds and five assists for his second career 15-5-5 game.
Coming off a 59-point outburst three days ago against the Indiana Pacers, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s encore was not as thrilling, with a season-low 22 points on 50%, (11-of-22 shooting), 15 rebounds, and a season-high 12 assists for his first triple-double of the campaign. Taurean Prince, who is not known for his offense, scored a team and season-high 23 points and buried at least three triples for the fourth consecutive game (season-high-tying 4-of-5).
Unlike last year’s four matchups, which all resulted in blowout wins for the Bucks, neither team could get separation or extend their lead to more than eight points in this back-and-forth affair. Knotted at 107, with just over two minutes remaining, Ball dished to Bridges for a drive-and-kick right corner 3-pointer, and then on the ensuing possession, right after an Antetokounmpo dunk, sank a four-foot floater plus the foul to give Charlotte a four-point cushion. Five straight unanswered points by Pat Connaughton, just like a closer in baseball, pushed the Bucks back in front with 19 seconds left, giving the Hornets one last chance to sink a game-winning basket.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn the other end, Ball drove down the lane’s right side and stumbled to the floor, but still got the benefit of the doubt on a foul call assessed to Antetokounmpo. He capitalized on the good fortune and knocked down both free throws, putting the Hornets on top with seven seconds remaining. Moments later, Antetokounmpo let a few ticks run off and settled for a pull-up mid-range jump shot, which hit the front of the rim, then the backboard before Bridges swatted it away.
With Bridges back in the rotation, the Hornets started small with Grant Williams at the center spot, giving the offense an early spark that had been missing of late. Thanks to Moussa Diabaté’s career-high 10 offensive boards and some lineups utilizing their speed, Charlotte outscored the Bucks in two crucial categories, second-chance points, 21-8, and in transition, 22-9, the latter an area that they have struggled in to say the least, ranking 29th out of 30 teams coming into the game.
Without a pair of the stars, Damian Lillard (concussion) and Khris Middleton (ankle surgery), Milwaukee ran its offense through the two-time MVP Antetokounmpo. Charlotte did an admirable job containing the Greek Freak, using double teams and limiting drives to consistently get the ball out of his hands. Several of those passes did become open 3-pointers, but they were willing to give those up because that just comes with the territory of facing such a talented player.
Aside from Antetokounmpo’s relatively low point total, Milwaukee got some huge performances from a number of rotational players; Prince, Bobby Portis Jr. (21 points), Andre Jackson Jr. (career-high 14 points) and Connaughton (10 points) all posted season highs. The Hornets’ objective was to make somebody other than Antetokounmpo beat them, and this group nearly did just that.
“I think it’s what we did all game in terms of showing [Antetokounmpo] bodies, showing him a crowd… I thought on that last play, Grant, who all game was the primary defender on Antetokounmpo, did a really good job. He kept him in front, understood his tendencies. I thought all the guys around him understood how to kind of fake and fade and make it seem like there was a crowd there, like we were going to come help. He settled for a jumper, and I thought we had a great contest, and we finished it with a deflection out of bounds.” – Hornets Head Coach Charles Lee, on the team’s game-winning defensive stand.
Another two-game trip is around the corner waiting for the Hornets in Cleveland on Sunday, beginning at 6 PM ET. A 144-126 home victory over Chicago on Friday evening extended the Cavaliers’ perfect record to 14-0 and has them one win shy of tying the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and 1948-49 Washington Capitals for the second-best seasonal start in NBA history. Interestingly, the Hornets were the last team to defeat Cleveland in the regular season, doing so in last year’s finale.
