The Charlotte Hornets returned to home and handled business against the Oklahoma City Thunder. After dropping two straight games at the end of their Western conference road trip, they beat the Thunder 121-113. LaMelo Ball shined once again with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. It was his 10th straight game scoring 20 or more points, which is a great sign for a team trying to scrape some wins in the middle of the season to keep some playoff/play-in dreams alive. Ball showing out does not feel like anything new though. What does, is Mark Williams having his best game by far in his rookie campaign.

The late lottery pick put up 17 points, 13 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in 21 minutes of action. Just a dominant performance for the big man out of Duke. He was active on both ends of the floor all night long. Showed soft touch around the rim, moved well without the ball, and altered pretty much every shot he was near on defense.

“It felt great,” Williams said. “First time playing at home and I got into a rhythm early on both sides of the ball. It felt great to play basketball.”

Williams hasn't played a heavy amount of minutes for the Hornets all season. He normally plays in garbage time when games have already been decided. However, due to the injury to Nick Richards' ankle, Williams has seen the floor more in the past few games. Richards was healthy and able to play vs. the Thunder, but was a healthy scratch. Head coach Steve Clifford mentioned before the game that Williams would see extended time on the floor. Safe to say Cliff made the right decision.

Postgame, Williams was asked about how it felt to play extended minutes and win some trust from coach:

“It means a lot. I just wanted to show it was the right decision. Wanted to make the most of the opportunity and to play hard and play to my strengths.”

Williams showed out, but the trick in this league is to do it consistently and not every now and then. It'll be very interesting to see if he can replicate this performance a few consecutive games in a row. That could impact the big man rotation that Clifford has in place of Richards and Mason Plumlee. Plumlee is the Hornets starter, but maybe his minutes could shift a little. We'll see what coach Clifford does with his trio of centers moving forward.