Luckily there wasn’t much excitement waffling around anyway, considering it was a Monday night and the visiting team was also among the NBA’s worst record-wise.
But the small smattering of feel good vibes quickly seeped out of the sparsely-populated Spectrum Center in the second half of the Charlotte Hornets’ 117-106 victory against Detroit that extended their season-best win streak to five games.
That’s because LaMelo Ball wasn’t on the floor or even on the bench during crunch time after sustaining the latest injury in a season overloaded with them for the Hornets. Ball came up gimpy in the third quarter, exiting with a right ankle injury after posting 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. He will be sidelined indefinitely after X-rays taken at the arena revealed a fracture. And with only 19 games remaining, Ball’s third season could very well be over prematurely.
