“I’ve got to be in there longer for the 4th quarter”: LaMelo Ball expresses his dissent with Hornets head coach James Borrego for his rotations in loss to Clippers
The Charlotte Hornets superstar in making LaMelo Ball seems to be upset with his game time after his team blew away the match against the Clippers last night.
Hornets started the 2021-22 season in a great fashion with a 5-2 W/L record after they blew away Damian Lillard and the Blazers 125-113. But since then they have lost 4 games, and three of them were by big margins.
Last night against the Clippers they led by 9 points when there was 06:07 on the clock, but they stopped scoring thereafter and Clippers went on a 22-0 run to win the match 120-106.
Trailing by just 2 points entering the 4th quarter, the Hornets went on a 15-4 run to take the 9 point lead, with LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward on the bench. But after the duo checked in, Clippers went on a 27-4 run to seal the deal.
The 2021 Rookie of the Year seemed upset in the post-match presser and said he should have checked in earlier.
LaMelo Ball might have some issues with coach Borrego’s approach
Ball and Hayward sat out six minutes to start the fourth quarter which might have something to do with 3 fouls LaMelo had to end the third or his approval of using Ish Smith a few weeks back against the Brooklyn Nets.
In any of those cases, the performance by Ball and Hayward coming into the 4th quarter doesn’t justify his dissent for the coach. The duo didn’t score a single point since coming in. Even after having 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, Ball had a plus-minus rating at “-14”. And Hayward at -17. And then LaMelo seemed upset for his playing time in the last quarter.
After Hornets concede 22-0 fourth quarter run in loss to Clippers, LaMelo Ball: “I feel like I’ve got to be in there longer for the fourth quarter, you feel me? I feel like I came in a little late in the game.” pic.twitter.com/1F1pbnilZR
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) November 8, 2021
While LaMelo struggled in the later period of the game, James Borrego was not blameless either. With Ball out and Ish Smith struggling for form since his Nets game, he just played with one guard. Terry Rozier was the only guard for the first six minutes and when Ball and Hayward checked in Rozier was out along with their other star scorer Miles Bridges. And Hornets struggled to create offensively for the remaining half of the fourth.
Also read: Charlotte Hornets’ young star LaMelo Ball talks about all of his tattoos and what they represent
With both Ball and Bridges in such tremendous form to start the season, Borrego and Hornets must capitalize and try to finish this season somewhere in the middle of the Eastern Conference table, which wouldn’t be that easy this season.
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