LaMelo Ball’s big dumpling, a symbol of his apprenticeship | NBA

Honesty and fairness are two essential elements for a coach if he wants to keep his locker room. This is how James Borrego is always quick to congratulate LaMelo Ball when his leader lines up the big performances, but also the first to sanction him as soon as he leaves the imposed frame, like Wednesday night.

LaMelo Ball allowed himself a strange gap on the Orlando floor during the second quarter, when the game was far from over, wanting to show off when he had left alone on the counterattack …

Except that Lonzo Ball’s little brother screwed up in style, and was called back to the bench in the wake of his coach, who “messed up” him during the last four minutes until the break. The technician from North Carolina then went without him for nearly ten minutes, between the third and fourth quarters.

If the player was penalized immediately, James Borrego was more diplomatic in a press conference, referring in particular to the fact that his player already had three personal faults on the clock.

“These are learning opportunities for him, even though he also had three fouls at the time, which also partly explains his replacement. I believe in Melo, but of course we’re going to talk about this action. He knows it. Then we’ll move on ”, he also underlined after the match. « It was more for his fault issues and just a growing opportunity for him. »

More fear than harm in the end for LaMelo Ball while Charlotte still got away with the victory, and the leader managed to stay in his match despite the sanction of his coach, compiling 12 of his 22 points and 2 of his 4 assists after the break, all in 26 minutes, his second shortest playing time of the start of the season.