Miller Makes First NBA Start; Charlotte Begins Game Well, But Can’t Sweep Back-to-Back
Another solid start and a dynamic performance from their star point wasn’t enough for the Charlotte Hornets in their first back-to-back closer of the season, ending with a hard-fought 124-118 road loss in Dallas on Sunday night.
LaMelo Ball completely stuffed the statsheet and then some in the loss, finishing with a game-high 30 points – 23 in the fourth quarter – on 11-of-23 shooting, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, 11 of which came in the first half. Ball’s 10th career triple-double is also the second regular season 30-point triple-double in franchise history and first since Anthony Mason’s on March 31, 2000 (Baron Davis also notched one in the NBA Playoffs on April 27, 2002, in Orlando).
A 57.4% shooting percentage in the first half with only five turnovers helped the Hornets to a 62-50 lead at the break, but Dallas won the third by 11 to enter the fourth down by one. The Mavericks finally pulled ahead a couple minutes into the closing frame, but the visitors just continued to hang around. A 4-0 spurt in the final minute drew the Hornets to within three and after a Dallas shot clock violation, they had a chance to tie it with eight seconds to go. Charlotte couldn’t connect on the ensuing in-bounds though, leading to a game-sealing five-second call.
Despite Ball’s fourth-quarter heroics, Dallas still won the final 12 minutes, 41-34, after shooting 61.9% and 11-of-13 from the charity stripe (84.6%). Luka Dončić – the NBA’s leading scorer coming into the contest – had a relatively so-so night for his lofty standards, eventually coming alive in the fourth with 10 points, three rebounds, and four assists.
“We had a lot of guys that played great,” said Hornets Head Coach Steve Clifford following the loss. “LaMelo was terrific and he’s getting into rhythm. We tried to change coverages [on Dončić]. We tried four or five different things. He just destroyed us. They had 10 assists [in the fourth], but he created almost their entire offense, and we couldn’t stop them. We’ll take tomorrow off because of the back-to-back. That will give us a day to study things and prioritize what we need to work on.”
Mark Williams racked up 19 points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting and 10 rebounds for his first double-double since Opening Night, while PJ Washington and Gordon Hayward each scored 20 points. Brandon Miller had seven points on 3-of-12 shooting in his first career NBA start filling in for the injured Terry Rozier (left groin strain). As a team, Charlotte shot 49.0%, but struggled again from behind the arc (8-of-31, 25.8%) and at the charity stripe (12-of-21, 57.1%), after going 23-of-23 in Indiana on Saturday evening.
Dončić (23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists) was a dime away from joining Ball in the triple-double club. Grant Williams and Kyrie Irving each had 18 points, and rookie center Dereck Lively II double-doubled with 15 points and 14 rebounds to help the Mavericks snap a three-game head-to-head losing streak to Charlotte.
The Hornets will have another couple of days off before hosting the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, Nov. 8 beginning at 7 PM ET at Spectrum Center. Follow all the action on Bally Sports Southeast and WFNZ 92.7 FM.