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The Charlotte Hornets closed out the regular season in style in a win over the Washington Wizards, 124-108. It was a pretty tight game in the first half, but the Hornets made the right adjustments to pull away in the second half–cutting down on turnovers and cashing in on wide open shots from deep. LaMelo Ball put on a show as well, finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
That's at least 20 points and nine assist in Ball's last three games. Clearly, he is getting into form for the Hornets' play-in run.
Now, they will travel to Atlanta to take on the Atlanta Hawks. Trae Young and co. also won their season finale versus the Houston Rockets, so they kept the ninth seed despite Charlotte's win. They split the season series against them this season, but they have played good basketball when they match up. Despite having to win two road games to make the playoffs, Ball doesn't care where he hoops at, he's just ready to play.
“I'm cool with both for real. I ain't from neither place, so I ain't really trippin'. I feel like I've been on the road my whole life. As long as it's not overseas, it feels like a home game for real. If it's in the states we good,” the Hornets' second-year guard shared.
Ball did have stops in Lithuanian and Australia, so that's likely what he was referring to. As funny as that was, it is a good way to look at road games. It takes some pressure off of himself and his team as a whole. He also answered questions on what they need to do for these next couple of games.
“We just gotta come in ready straight from the jump. It's definitely a different atmosphere than the normal season. We just have to remember what the Pacers did to us last year,” LaMelo Ball added.
The Pacers blew out the Hornets 144-117 in the play-in last year. They had that score up in their locker room all season long going into the regular season for motivation, and it looks like it has worked. Charlotte has won 10 more games this season. Although they might be in a similar situation as last year, the team looks as relevant and competitive as any other team in the league at this point in the season.
“Playing with each other more and more has allowed for people to learn their roles,” Ball said about their improvement from last year. “Stuff is just more open and that's the big picture. We're just going to keep getting better from here.”
The whole world will get to see how far they have improved this 2021-22. Hopefully, though, they come away with two key wins to clinch their first playoff berth since 2016.
