LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets dribbles during the second half of the game. Jared C. Tilton Getty Images
During the Charlotte Hornets’ brief break in a span of three games in four nights, when most were probably sprawled out in a chair or on the couch and stuffed like a holiday turkey, coach Charles Lee had a chat.
Except this conversation wasn’t with just any old someone, and the subject matter didn’t center around the best Thanksgiving side dishes or what kind of dessert is essential to cap off the meal. Instead, the Hornets coach had a one-on-one with LaMelo Ball, hoping to get the Hornets’ star point guard going again after recent struggles since returning from nursing a right ankle impingement.
“He and I talked a little bit (Thursday),” Lee said. “And we’re going to keep talking about how we can continue to help him right now as he’s kind of coming back from that injury, but I think that he’s created some good looks for our team. I think that he’s gotten some good looks that he usually knocks down.
“I keep emphasizing with him, and he understands the importance of (how) there’s still other ways to positively impact the game, and I want to see him lean and focus on those areas sometimes when the offensive stuff might not just be clicking for you as much.”
Perhaps those sage words from Lee were just what Ball needed to hear. With his scoring touch just not there in the second half, Ball still left his imprint on the Hornets’ 123-116 victory in an Emirates NBA Cup East Group C matchup at Spectrum Center.
Ball’s three assists and huge steal in the fourth quarter sparked the Hornets and were a major catalyst in helping Charlotte snap a season-worst seven-game losing streak.
“Just really trying to do what I could in the little time that I’ve got, for real,” Ball told the Charlotte Observer. “All this is a little different for me. So, just doing what I could for real.”
When Lee goes over the footage of the victory against Chicago (9-9) with Ball, he can always keep rewinding to the spot where there’s 4:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. That’s when Ball came up with a big steal on Tre Jones, diving onto the floor for the loose ball and helping the Hornets get out in transition to grab a 114-107 advantage.
“We talk about that a good amount,” Lee said. “I think he took ownership of it (Friday), even rebounding at times. I thought early in the game he got in there and got a couple defensive rebounds and stuff.
“So, we’ll continue to watch the film, and now we have to back it up with our actions game after game, day after day. Because this is the standard, this is the expectation. And I know when he plays at that high of a level, he makes our team different and really special and unique.”
Nobody understands that better than Ball’s best friend on the team. Miles Bridges has seen it more than just about anyone else, and he noted Ball’s big steal on Jones.
“Yeah, he was passing the ball like crazy and that play, that play kind of decided the game,” Bridges said. “They had a little run going, and he got the stop and the turnover, and that really decided the game for us. And Coach highlighted that after the game. And Melo knows that. He knows if when he wants to guard, he can guard.
“So, we’ve just got to continue to encourage him to be him, and just be impactful the way he can be, as we know he can be.”
Ball is keen on the importance of leaving his mark in various ways.
“It’s real big,” he said. “You need everything we got. So, the little time that I get, I was just going to impact it as much as I could.
“Just trying to see what I can do. But like I said, just giving it your all.”
Although the Hornets had already been eliminated from advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament before they even took the court against the Bulls, at least they didn’t get swept in Cup play once again. Since the implementation of the league’s brainchild in 2023-24, the Hornets have won only one game in the format.
Not exactly a recipe for punching a ticket to Las Vegas, where the semifinals and championship game will be played next month. But it’s a start, considering they were questioning their own effort just 48 hours prior when they got pasted by the New York Knicks.
“I’m excited about the way we responded,” said Brandon Miller, who paced the Hornets with 27 points. “Obviously, (the Bulls) had something going on. We try not to overreact to too many things and just try to stick to the game plan and play as hard as we can.”
Sounds like a little soul-searching was in order, too.
“Just each man looking at each other in the mirror,” Bridges said, “looking at ourselves in the mirror and wondering, ‘What do we want to do this season? Do we want to have another wasted season or do we want to compete this year like we know we can?’ And I feel like everybody had the same answer when we showed that today.”
That’s a different tune than what the Hornets were singing recently.
After all, this is a team that dropped its previous seven games and had been in a downward spiral for the most part since the 2-1 start that had diehard Hornets fans feeling pretty good about things for the first time in a while.
So what’s been the Hornets’ biggest issue cropping up?
Let’s just say it’s not on the offensive side of things. While there’s certainly plenty of room for improvement in terms of the structure and flow of the offense, the Hornets haven’t been getting into the opposition enough, either.
They aren’t making teams feel them and that must be fixed quickly. More consistency is key.
Lee said, “I think that on the ball like our M.I.G. (Most Important Guy) that we talked about, sometimes it’s isolation situations, sometimes it’s pick-and roll where we’re just not closing the gap or affecting ball handlers or drivers well enough, and then offensively I think that we’ve got to do a much better job just creating advantages and maintaining advantages.
“And then once we have those advantages, continue to make the proper rim reads. Shift reads, we’ve gotten ourselves in trouble at times, where I think everyone has this mindset that we get down or things aren’t going well, ‘I got to go do it myself.’ And yes, we need you to be aggressive. Yes, we got to get you to get a piece of the paint, but once you do that, and you see the defense collapse, not to make the right read, and you got to keep trusting your teammates.”
That’s not all of Lee’s synopsis. There’s more and it’s mental.
“Some of our guys obviously haven’t shot it as well lately, too,” Lee said, “so sometimes I think that human nature (says), ‘Do I make that one more pass? We’re not shooting the 3 as well. I’m going to make this layup.’ And we’ve gotten some shots blocked, or we’ve been hesitant to do some things.
“I think that our guys understand where we are in the season, what we need to get done. We’re on a little bit of a losing streak. We have goals of competing every night and competing in the NBA Cup and obviously that kind of went out the window last game, but there’s that internal motivation, that internal drive for us just to keep getting better. So, I think we’ve just got to sustain our efforts. We’re doing some really good things and those good things need to keep carrying through.”