LaMelo Ball has been on a hot streak lately but faced a $100,000 fine and had to apologize for an anti-gay slur uttered during a postgame interview over the weekend. Despite this, Ball will look to keep his focus on the court when the Charlotte Hornets visit the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night for each team’s second game in Group A of the NBA Cup.
After two injury-plagued seasons where he played only 58 games, Ball is now averaging a career-best 29.7 points per game and has scored at least 30 points in eight of his 13 games this season. He had seven 30-point games in 22 contests last season, and his next 30-point game would match his total from his 2021-22 All-Star season.
The Hornets are 2-6 when Ball scores at least 30 points, with two of those losses coming against the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics and another being Sunday’s 128-114 loss to the unbeaten Cleveland Cavaliers. Ball scored 31 points on 11-of-29 shooting in that game and later apologized for his earlier derogatory language.
Charlotte hopes for a stronger performance in the NBA Cup after Ball scored 35 points in a 114-89 loss to Orlando last week. That tournament loss is part of the Hornets’ five-game road losing streak, which continued on Sunday in Cleveland.
The Nets are also 0-1 in the NBA Cup after nearly making a comeback from a 21-point deficit in a 124-122 loss to the New York Knicks on Friday.
Brooklyn suffered its third straight loss and fell to 1-5 in its last six games after being outscored 50-24 in the paint in a 114-104 road loss to the Knicks on Sunday.
The Nets are coming off one of their least productive games, shooting only 42.1 percent from the floor, their second-lowest mark of the season. Cam Thomas, who scored 43 points on Friday, was held to 16 points on Sunday.
Brooklyn played its second game without Nic Claxton (back), who is scheduled to be re-evaluated at the end of this week. Without Claxton, the Nets allowed 96 points in the paint over the two games against the Knicks.
