{"id":542534,"date":"2026-01-17T09:58:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542534\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T09:58:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:58:48","slug":"why-ex-chino-hills-star-lamelo-ball-is-emotional-leader-for-hornets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542534\/","title":{"rendered":"Why ex-Chino Hills star LaMelo Ball is ’emotional leader’ for Hornets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The gasps from the crowd at Crypto.com Arena \u2014 a mix of shock from Lakers<\/a> fans and anticipation from fans rooting for the local hero \u2014 grew each time LaMelo Ball pulled up from seemingly more and more audacious spots on the court. The Charlotte Hornets star guard held three fingers to his bicep each time he splashed a shot through the net. He stared up into the packed stands to meet the eyes of his hometown crowd.<\/p>\n

The former Chino Hills High star ignited the Hornets to a 135-117 win over the Lakers<\/a> on Thursday with 30 points and 11 assists. After a quiet three points in the first half, Ball erupted for 27 points after halftime, including making eight three-pointers on 12 attempts in the second half that gave the L.A. crowd flashbacks of the brace-faced freshman on Chino Hills\u2019 famous undefeated team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know LaMelo,\u201d Lakers guard Marcus Smart said. \u201cHe\u2019s been playing like that since he was in high school. To us, they\u2019re some crazy shots, but to him, those are his shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball, now 10 years removed from the 35-0, national championship season with the Huskies, still plays with the looseness of the freshman who was hooping with his older brothers. But the 24-year-old is now starting to own the maturity of a six-year NBA veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always been an explosive scorer, explosive passer, but now he knows how to win games when it comes down to, what, two possessions, one possession,\u201d said Hornets guard Miles Bridges, who had 25 points, including five baskets assisted by Ball. \u201cHe knows how to make the right play and win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball, who is averaging 20.4 points, 7.8 assists and 5.2 rebounds, has a career-high plus-2.8 rating this season. Ball\u2019s traditional stats are modest compared to some of his stat-stuffing early seasons when he averaged more than 30 points and eight rebounds in each of his first two years in the NBA, but he is playing more efficiently than ever in some ways. He has a 120.8 offensive rating and a 42.2% assist percentage, which estimates the percentage of a player\u2019s teammates\u2019 field goals they assist while on the court. His assist percentage trails only Denver superstar Nikola Jokic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always marveled at his shot making, but the thing that I think continues to just impress me, the thing that continues to help our team get better and better is that he\u2019s trusting the pass,\u201d said Hornets coach Charles Lee, who called Ball the team\u2019s emotional leader. \u201cI think that he\u2019s really maximizing everyone around him. He\u2019s making them better. \u2026 And then he just does what Melo does: He\u2019s a shot-maker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ball hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the third quarter. With his confidence growing, he started pulling up earlier in the shot clock. He danced with Lakers center Deandre Ayton, driving toward the lane on the 7-footer to only pivot back and drain another three. Fading away out of the corner of the court and almost into the laps of his teammates on the Hornets bench, Ball hit a rainbow three over Smart\u2019s outstretched hand.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cI was really just playing for real,\u201d Ball said.<\/p>\n

Ball did not play in the Lakers\u2019 first game against the Hornets in Charlotte, N.C., because of an ankle injury. In November, the Lakers held off a fourth-quarter surge from the Hornets, who showed how dangerous they can be. Young and athletic, with eager drivers and knock-down shooters, the Hornets can be one of the NBA\u2019s most dangerous offensive teams. In the 15 games since Ball returned from a three-game absence because of an ankle injury, Charlotte has the top-ranked offense in the league. The Hornets hung 150 points against Utah. They blew out the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur coaching staff and the guys in the locker room, we all knew that they got our full respect and attention pregame,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick said. \u201cAnd I thought we fought. Just another team that has a hot-shooting night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers, who next play consecutive games at Portland on Saturday and at home against Toronto on Sunday, have lost four out of the last five. They are 25th in opponent three-point shooting, allowing teams to shoot 37.3% from deep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The gasps from the crowd at Crypto.com Arena \u2014 a mix of shock from Lakers fans and anticipation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3777],"tags":[5061,8091,7,74582,684,473,3878,2575,16035,74581,142,685,300,3587,6,65,4247,396,706],"class_list":["post-542534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-charlotte-hornets","tag-assist","tag-ball","tag-basketball","tag-brace-faced-freshman","tag-charlotte","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-charlottehornets","tag-court","tag-crowd","tag-emotional-leader","tag-game","tag-hornets","tag-lakers","tag-lakers-fan","tag-nba","tag-point","tag-shot","tag-team","tag-teammate"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115909858301779530","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}