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LaMelo Ball became the fastest player ever to 1,000 career 3-pointers, getting there in his 311th game in the win over the Bucks. The previous best was Duncan Robinson, in 343 games.
Jon Krawczynski: Wolves beat the Bucks, 112-100. It wasn't always pretty, but it was needed. Ball: 34p 6-13 3s Ayo: 19p, 12r, 8a Gobert: 10p, 10r Lyles: 12p, 4r Kuminga: 8p, 10r
Jon Krawczynski: LaMelo Ball is a go for tonight.
Jon Krawczynski: Shannon out, Ball a gametime decision, per Finch
Q. Another game where LaMelo Ball is in foul trouble a lot and the turnovers. How do you try to kind of get him through this? Chris Finch, He's got to figure it out, right? I mean, the turnovers are unnecessarily, I think. To be fair, they’re fouling him all over the floor. They got their hands on him, they’re bumping him, they’re holding him, they’re riding him off his line. And at the other end of the floor, he’s being whistled for a bunch of touch fouls. The way that they allow people to just put their hands on him over the full court, I thought we got rid of that stuff in the 80s, but apparently not.”
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Q. It just seemed like a frustrating night for you just with the fouls. What do you see in out there in terms of…? Lamelo Ball: “You seen all the fouls I had? You think I had six? Q. I would probably say no. Ball: That’s bottom line. I mean, just got to be smarter though.
Ball fouled Wembanyama as he was running back to defense, pushing the French center from the back while he was trying to get up from the ground. This was Ball's first foul after which he racked up six fouls in total and had to leave the court earlier than expected. LaMelo told reporters after the matchup that he wasn't trying to foul the whole game and addressed the interaction with Wembanyama: "Honestly, I wasn't even trying to foul and it was just happening. I know the first one I tried to help Wemby up. Foul. Just, I guess silly stuff."
Dane Moore: Chris Finch was asked about this interaction on the bench between Rudy Gobert, Jonathan Kuminga and LaMelo Ball. Finch was unaware of the interaction, as was Gobert when he was asked. "Honestly, I didn't see what you're referring to the other night. It's part of the game. Obviously everything has to stay in a healthy context. But you'd rather have guys talking about things and airing it out than brooding over it and letting things fester. So yeah, I think it's just a normal part of the way things are these days."
Jon Krawczynski: Rudy Gobert was asked about this today. He was genuinely unaware of it. "I’d like to see the images, see what it looks like. In the moment I didn’t feel like it was anything bad. And there’s been bad things in the past. But that wasn’t anything bad."
Rod Boone: #Hornets retiring No. 1 means LaMelo will be the last player to ever wear the number. Asked Muggsy about it and the thought of no one else ever donning it again. Muggsy: "The moment that I heard they were moving in a different direction from LaMelo, I was stunned. No one advocated for Melo more than I did, because I really enjoyed the kid." Said he's fully on board with the vision of the #Hornets to get the franchise to be a winner long term.
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Joseph Dycus: Chris Finch says he expects LaMelo Ball to take on more of a scoring role vs Warriors with Edwards out. Also says Jonathan Kuminga could play more SF than PF.
Jon Krawczynski: "Yes, so what I'm told he's in good spirits. He's obviously disappointed by having to have this procedure. It will take him out of MVP all-NBA consideration and there's financial implications to that as well as competitive implications for the Timberwolves, but I think he's taking it fairly in stride. The one thing that was told to me about this and not just trying to play through it was he looks at the way this team has come together, how quickly they have gelled, his chemistry with LaMelo, how Kuminga is playing, just everything around it and the great start that they've gotten off to, and he really believes that this is a team that can go deep into the playoffs and that can come out of the Western Conference."
Jon Krawczynski on Anthony Edwards: 'What I'm told he's in good spirits. He's obviously disappointed by having to have this procedure. It will take him out of MVP all-NBA consideration and there's financial implications to that as well as competitive implications for the Timberwolves, but I think he's taking it fairly in stride. The one thing that was told to me about this is one of the the motivations for doing this now and not just trying to play through it was he looks at the way this team has come together. How quickly they have jelled his chemistry with LaMelo Ball, how Jonathan Kuminga is playing, just everything around it and the great start that they've gotten off to. And he really believes that this is a team that can go deep into the playoffs and that can come out of the Western Conference. And so one of the motivations here for him is, hey, let's just get in, get this taken care of as soon as possible.'
Jon Krawczynski: In the NBA's last 2-minute report, it was concluded that James Harden should have been called for a foul on Anthony Edwards' drive late. Also, the steal from LaMelo Ball on Donovan Mitchell was deemed incidental contact. Not surprised at either determination.
