The LaMelo Ball Experience was on full display as Hornets somehow survive play-in thriller vs. Heat

LaMelo Ball is probably the most gifted and frustrating player in the NBA, and on Tuesday night he gave us the complete experience in what might be the craziest game you’ve seen in all of these postseasons.

First, the bottom line: The Charlotte Hornets beat the Miami Heat, 127-126, in overtime to win the East’s No. 9 vs. No. 10 play-in game. The Heat were eliminated. The Hornets will face either the Magic or the 76ers on Friday in a do-or-die game for the East’s No. 8 seed.

Now back to Ball, who literally went from losing for the Hornets to winning for them in the span of about 12 seconds. First, after Tyler Herro nailed a corner 3 that left Charlotte clinging to a two-point lead, Ball wasn’t even able to move the ball halfway across the court before coughing it up with a telegraphed and desperately weak pass intended for Sion James that ended up in the hands of Pelle Larsson with 16 seconds left. Then, just for good measure, he turned around and fouled Herro on a 3-point attempt on the other end.

Herro made all three free throws, and just like that, the Hornets went from having the game in hand to needing a game-winning bucket to survive. Which, of course, Ball quickly delivered.

Look at Ball’s scoring in the box and it’s a wonderful mess of huge numbers: 30 points on 31 shots, 10 assists, 2 of 16 from 3 in 40 minutes. If you hate the ball, he’s given you plenty of material for your morning water cooler talk – shooting one-legged 3s like he was in the alley and missing just about every one of them, being targeted on the ball and losing his man off the ball on defense.

And of course, with the game on the line, he decided to get fancy with his handle instead of taking the little angle he gained the first time he turned Mitchell and running the damn thing across half court. Ball is not programmed to do anything the easy way. Going between the legs a second time, and in doing so flipping straight into the teeth of an incoming trap, is the downside of a mix-tape maniac having his hand on the switch of your season.

That said, some free-agent wideouts are just part of the deal with Ball. This is part of his wild equation, which has been extremely positive for the Hornets all season. With the ball on the floor this year, Charlotte has outscored opponents by just under 10 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass, with an offense in the 97th percentile. With Ball off the field, the Hornets fell to a neutral team with a 36th percentile offense.

Same deal Tuesday. With Ball on the floor, the Hornets outscored the Heat by 15 points. Without him, the Heat outscored the Hornets by 14. That’s no coincidence. Ball’s mania isn’t just for show. Keeping tabs on him is a nightmare. He puts constant pressure on a defense and can force his way to any spot on the court with plenty of time to make a play. He picks up the pace. He will shoot from anywhere.

This is a guy who will throw a step-back 30-footer when he’s made his last seven shots, and he’ll do it with confidence. A guy who will throw a 40-foot alley-oop pass in a two-point game with less than five minutes to play, and hold up.

Playing basketball against LaMelo Ball is like trying to fight a guy who doesn’t care about dying. It’s like trying to play poker against a guy who is all-in in every other hand. He might have aces. He might be in rags. You can’t feel comfortable sitting across from that kind of cowboy.

That’s the beauty of Ball. It doesn’t matter if it’s the second night of a back-to-back in January or a one-off in April: he’s playing with the pedal down. For much of this game, Miles Bridges was the only other Hornet generating juice. Kon Knueppel couldn’t do anything. Brandon Miller was out for much of the first half due to foul trouble. Ball had to fight his way through a lot of his own hiccups, but he kept going. And when it mattered most, he delivered his words in a way that speaks to the substance of his style.

“It shows growth,” Bridges said of Ball’s decision to take the hump and go down on the game-winning shot. “Before, Melo would have shot a step-back 3 to try to win the game. But he has a different sense of urgency. And he’s a winning player. We always talk about him as just a player who wants highlights and all that. But he really wants to win, and I feel like that’s on full display right now.”