After a poor performance in his regular season debut, LaMelo Ball quickly bounced back on Saturday. In the first quarter alone, Ball poured in nine points and knocked down a pair of three-pointers.
Though the effort would come in a loss, Ball was a bright spot for the Hornets, scoring 13 points in 15 minutes. He was also efficient on the evening, going 5-of-10 from the field and 2-of-4 from the three-point line.
Teammate P.J. Washington spoke about Ball’s impact on the team and the energy brought to the court after Saturday’s loss.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what we expect from everybody on the bench, everybody to come in and be aggressive,” Washington said. “LaMelo was aggressive tonight and we love that from him. We need that from him every night and that goes along with everybody else on the bench. That’s what you want out of your bench is to come in and bring energy so we can keep pushing on and keep getting better. Credits to LaMelo, he played a hell of a game, but we need him every day.”
Ball injected energy into the game for the Hornets upon checking in. Inside the opening two minutes of him being on the court, Ball got to the line, finished a layup through contact and knocked down a three-pointer to give Charlotte a 17-12 lead.
The challenge for Ball, as for both any rookies and players off the bench, is to be able to bring that level of energy to every game on the schedule. Ball will have another test to do so on Sunday as the team hosts Brooklyn on the second night of a back-to-back.