If there was any question about who controlled Tuesday night in Charlotte, LaMelo Ball answered it almost immediately.
The Hornets star set the tone in a 136-106 demolition of the Heat, slicing up Miami with 30 points, 13 assists, six rebounds and four made threes as Charlotte rolled to its first win over Miami this season.
And this was vintage LaMelo in every sense. He didn’t just score. He bent the entire game to his pace, created clean looks for everybody else and made the Hornets offense feel impossible to slow down once it got humming.
Ball now has as many 30-point, 10-assist games as every other player in Hornets history combined, which tells you all you need to know about the kind of franchise-altering player he is when he’s healthy and in rhythm.
What made the performance even more impressive was how Charlotte buried Miami as the game wore on. This wasn’t a case of hanging on late.
The Hornets completely took over after halftime, outscoring the Heat 77-49 in the second half and turning the fourth quarter into a rout by winning it 40-18. By the final horn, what started as a solid home performance had become a full-on statement.
LaMelo got plenty of help, too, which is part of why this group continues to look more and more dangerous.
Coby White poured in 24 points off the bench, Kon Knueppel added 22, Brandon Miller chipped in 16 and Miles Bridges scored 14.
Charlotte knocked down 17 threes, won the rebounding battle 48-43 and had Miami chasing the game for most of the night once the Hornets found their offensive rhythm.
And the energy in the building matched the performance on the floor. Spectrum Center drew another sellout crowd of 19,478, tying the franchise single-season record with 16 sellouts. So this wasn’t just a big win in the standings.
It felt like another reminder that Charlotte basketball has real juice again, and LaMelo Ball remains the engine behind it all.
On a night where the Hornets needed a tone-setter, their star delivered exactly that. And when LaMelo is doing what LaMelo does, Charlotte looks like a team nobody wants to see.