CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double in a 113-105 home victory Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks.
Ball, who turns 20 in August, replaces Orlando Magic guard Markelle Fultz as youngest with a triple-double. He finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He made nine of his 13 shots.
Terry Rozier scored 23 points for the Hornets (5-5) and P.J. Washington added 22 points.
The Hornets limited Hawks star Trae Young to 15 points on 5-of-19 shooting, and 10 assists.
Marking Ball’s accomplishment:
— This was the first triple-double by a Hornet since Nic Batum’s in March of 2018, also against the Hawks.
— Ball is the ninth player in NBA history to get a triple-double in his first 10 game appearances.
— He joins Kemba Walker as only Hornets rookies to assemble triple-doubles.
— Ball is the fifth rookie in NBA history to get a triple-double as a reserve.
— This was the 28th triple-double in Hornets history, and the only one off the bench. Nine other Charlotte players had triple-doubles.
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Hornets coach James Borrego started the season playing 10 guys and said he’d cut that back. It’s clearly happened of late. Jalen McDaniels no longer plays and Malik Monk hasn’t after that 10 minutes in the second loss in Philadelphia.
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The Hornets’ biggest problem in the first half was doing anything to guard former Wake Forest star John Collins. The Hawks power forward finished the half with 10 points and seven rebounds in 15 first-half minutes. P.J. Washington really struggled defensively to contain Collins in the lane.
Collins and the Hawks couldn’t come to an agreement this off-season on an extension of his rookie-scale contract. So he will be a restricted free agent next summer.
For the game, Collins had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
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One night after missing his first triple-double by one assists, Ball started fast in the first half with nine points, seven assists and four rebounds in 15 minutes. He also made all four of his shots from the field.
Hornets coach James Borrego talked pre-game about how NBA-ready Ball, the third overall pick, already is 10 games into his career.
“More than anything, he gets it: He understands that this is a profession, this is his job,” Borrego said. “He wants to do it to the best of his ability. He asks questions, he wants to get better.”
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The Hornets saw acquiring Gordon Hayward and drafting Ball as significant boosts to the offense. While both have provided that, Charlotte is still deficient in most major offensive rankings.
Entering Saturday’s game, the Hornets were bottom-third of the 30 teams in scoring (23rd), field-goal percentage (28th), free throw percentage (25th) and 3-point percentage (21st). The offensive area where the Hornets excel is assists — they are first with an average of 29.2 per game.
Ball and Hayward have both improved offensive flow, and Hayward is an efficient scorer for sure this season: 22.3 points per game on 49% from the field, 39% from 3 and 91% from the foul line.
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Big Pat, the Hornets’ highly popular public-address announcer, called a game at Spectrum Center for the first time this season. He hadn’t been feeling well, so the Hornets had been subbing for him.
There are no fans at Hornets games currently, but game presentation is as close to normal as the team can stage, with piped in crowd noise, music and recordings of past performances of the national anthem.
