As LaMelo Ball continues to impress as a starter, the Raptors became the latest team to experience his stellar rookie season firsthand on Saturday. Ball put together one of his best games of the season behind a 6-of-9 3-point shooting performance, leading Charlotte to a 114-104 victory.
“He’s good,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said after the game. “I thought he’s obviously really growing and the 3-ball from deep is a huge weapon for him, but I think the biggest thing is that he makes a couple of plays – not saying we were threatened and cut the game down – but we get them to a 15 or 17-point lead that wasn’t looking good for them and then all of sudden, he zings a no-look pass for a layup or something. You think you have just about it all bottled up and you’re heading the other way and he makes a really spectacular pass for a bucket, so he’s a got a lot of game and size and obviously he looked really good out there tonight.”
The Raptors are one of the few teams to see Ball before and after him entering the starting lineup, giving head coach Nick Nurse a unique viewpoint of his progression this season. Before Saturday’s game, Nurse spoke about how Ball has developed this season.
“I think that you saw the glimpses in the preseason for sure, but you’re thinking ‘Well he’s really young and it might take him a year or so to get his feet wet,’” he said. “But it’s taken him about a half of a year to get his feet wet. He’s playing with tremendous confidence – he really is. He’s up the floor. He’s fearless with his throw-ahead passes. He’s on target with it. He’s a big part of their game.
“His pick-and-roll play has really, really improved and he’s not afraid if you’re going to go under or leave him open, he’s not afraid to side-step you and pull a deep one and he’s making some. He’s a good pick-and-roll player.”
In mid-January, Hornets and Raptors played back-to-back games that saw Ball come off the bench for two strong performances. The Raptors came away with wins in both of those games in Tampa. Fast forward to Saturday and Ball, starting in his 17th game, scored nearly as many points as he did in the two January meetings combined.
“He had a couple open looks and he knocked them down – all of them were knocking them down it seemed like,” Raptors forward DeAndre Bembry said about Ball. “He’s obviously talented and is an all-around player. His confidence is still growing and he’s been a good look for Charlotte.
“They’ve been playing well with him and his confidence and he’s definitely going to keep getting better. I can see that for sure.”