“That Was Big For Them”: LaMelo Ball Reveals the Reason Behind Hornets’ Loss to Denver Nuggets

Posted on by Jack Marks

The Denver Nuggets beat the Charlotte Hornets 113-109 on Monday night, with Nikola Jokic scoring 26 points, 19 rebounds, and 11 assists for his 19th triple-double of the season. The Nuggets, who split the season series, got 21 points from Aaron Gordon and 18 from Will Barton. P.J. Washington had 10 points, while LaMelo Ball had 22 points and 11 assists. Kelly Oubre Jr., Isaiah Thomas, and Rozier each had 12 points.

Denver only mustered seven points in an eight-minute stretch late in the game, and Jokic had all of them. The Nuggets had to fight off a furious Hornets rally after leading by 13 early in the fourth quarter.

Nikola Jokic

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Charlotte Hornets 113-109 on Monday. Overall, they had a good game, racking up 33 total assists and making clutch baskets when it counted. Miles Bridges and LaMelo Ball, the team’s two best young players, scored 27 and 22 points, respectively. In transition, though, they handed up a lot of second-chance and easy scores.

LaMelo Ball reveals reasons behind Hornets loss to Nuggets

“I’ll say second-chance points and transition,” Ball said when asked what killed the Hornets in the game. “They were just putting the ball up quick and getting And-1’s. That was big for them.”

Denver went into the fourth quarter with an 83-74 advantage, which swiftly increased to 13 points. With 4:07 remaining, the Hornets rallied, cutting the deficit to one point thanks to 3-pointers from Isaiah Thomas, Bridges, and Ball, as well as an alley-oop slam by Bridges. The Hornets had many opportunities to tie the game, but their shots just weren’t falling.

With the setback, the Hornets have dropped to ninth place in the Eastern Conference, one position below the Brooklyn Nets. There are six games left in the regular season for them. The Hornets were eager and ready to play some important basketball in Charlotte shortly. The playoffs are all they can think about, and they’ll go to any length to get there.