It’s not often that you play an NBA game against your brother, and it’s even rarer to be broadcast on national television for the first time, so it should have been a special night for LaMelo Ball and his brother Lonzo Ball. . The Charlotte Hornets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans Friday, 118-110, in the very first game between the Ball Brothers – not just in the NBA, but in their entire lives. The long-awaited event became known as the ‘Ball Bowl’.
LaMelo, who are likely to be many matches over the course of their careers, scored LaMelo, who scored one kick from a triple double with 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in 25 minutes, and, more importantly, the victory has. . Had he completed the feat, he would have become the youngest player to yield a triple in NBA history. As it stands now, he’s the youngest since LeBron James to score at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists – LeBron did so two days before his 19th birthday during his 2003-04 rookie season, while Ball was 19, 139 days old on Friday night.
Meanwhile, older brother Lonzo struggled the entire game, reaching 1-for-7 from 3-point, while finishing with five points, three assists and two rebounds. Statistics are not everything, especially not for a player like Lonzo, but LaMelo was a plus-five in his minutes, while Lonzo ended up at minus -7.
The most instagrammarable moment occurred with the time running out in the third quarter, when LaMelo stepped back with a 3-pointer over his outstretched arm of his brother to reduce New Orleans’ lead to five.
However, no evening involving a member of the Ball family could end without controversy. While the Hornets took the lead in the last minute of the game, LaMelo caught the ball on the wing with the shot clock and turned it into the square to shoot, but gave the ball in place of Miles Bridges, who was forced to ball with less than a second left. This made the ESPN broadcast crew doubt whether Ball might have chased his 10th aid, and thus harmed his team in the pursuit of NBA history.
After the game, Hornets vet Bismack Biyombo looked irritated or angry at his rookie teammate, though we still do not know why or if he could have even made a joke.
Regardless of the end, LaMelo played a great game. After a pointless NBA debut, Ball showed some beautiful figures while looking very comfortable despite his age. He entered Friday’s game averaging 17.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per 36 minutes, but he beat the 30-minute mark just twice in his nine games. Ball is still figuring things out defensively and has two very good guards starting ahead of him in Terry Rozier and Devonte ‘Graham, but you would have to think that if he continues to play so well, Hornets coach James Borrego will , must find a way to get his entertaining rookie more time on the track.