If you had the Charlotte Hornets plus-5.5 points against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday (raises hand), you have one person to thank for your disgusting backdoor cover: LaMelo Ball.
Technically, Tre Mann hit the garbage 3 on Charlotte’s final, meaningless possession to cash your ticket in a 125-120 Hawks win. But it was Ball, and pretty much Ball alone, who kept the Hornets within striking distance all night with 34 points on a career-high nine 3-pointers as his smoking-hot start to the season continued.
Ball also had 34 points in Charlotte’s season-opening win over Houston, and he posted identical 10-of-20 shooting lines in both while opening the season 12 of 24 from downtown.
The two marks on Ball’s stat sheet on Friday were his six fouls and 10 turnovers, but the latter can be forgiven when you have to court high-risk plays and shots over and over for your team to have even a fighting chance against another Play-In-level squad.
Buddy was out there hitting casual one-legged triples.
In case you thought that was a fluke, Ball laced another one-legged 3 on a corner fallaway for his first bucket of the third quarter (see in highlights below).
Not to be outdone, Hawks All-Star point guard Trae Young was on his own kind of heater in leading Atlanta to its second victory in as many games to open the season — albeit against the lowly Nets and Hornets.
Young finished with 38 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, five 3-pointers and four steals. After putting up 30 points and 12 assists in the opener, Young joins Oscar Robertson as the only two players in history to log at least 30 and 10 in the first two games of a season.
You’ve heard the phrase “old-fashioned shootout,” but there’s nothing old-fashioned about two point guards combining for 72 points while attempting 28 3-pointers and making 14 of them. Look at these two dudes going blow for blow.
Ball and Young are incredibly similar players. Young is a slightly better passer, and that’s only because he’s maybe the best passer on the planet. LaMelo is bigger and a better 3-point shooter. They are both highlight heroes who are so skilled that they often look like they’re damn near screwing around out there, like the NBA guest speaker at a middle-school camp putting on a show for the kids in flip-flops. Neither plays a lick of defense.
These two are the poster players for the increasingly loud question of whether a true contender can be built around a flashy, no-defense point guard, regardless of how great they are offensively. Unless you’re prime James Harden, that answer, to this point, has been a pretty resounding no.
But remember, there was a time when Devin Booker was framed as an empty-stats scorer, and all he’s turned out to be is one of the league’s most substantive superstars. You need the team around you to compete earnestly.
Young has been dealt better hands in this regard than Ball, and he did lead Atlanta to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals. Ball hasn’t had a spitting chance in Charlotte, but he’s surely worth the price of admission even on a bum squad. When these guys are operating at full-go, they are two of the most entertaining players in the world. On Friday they gave us a double feature on the same floor, and it was quite the early-season treat.
