Grading LaMelo Ball's return from injury: The showman is back

Charlotte Hornets basketball is back. There was plenty of excitement among the fan base as the team visited Toyota Center to take on the Houston Rockets for its season opener.

Much of the attention has been on LaMelo Ball, who hadn't played in an NBA game in nine months.

He looked a little sloppy in preseason, although he did have some good games. For instance, the 2022 All-Star reserve was the Hornets' best player in their first couple of matches.

An entertaining brand of basketball is back with Ball's return

Ball's comeback game couldn't have gone better, despite the Hornets facing an Alperen Sengun-sized weapon that they couldn't find ways to disarm at first. Other Rockets players, such as Jalen Green and Amen Thompson, also stepped up in the early going. The same cannot be said about the Hornets in the first half, where their point guard didn't get enough help.

Melo was impressive right from the opening buzzer, though. His first basket came off a 3-pointer, which he followed with a block of Fred VanVleet's jumper.

A little later in the first period, he connected with Brandon Miller for an early candidate for Dunk of the Year, rivaling his highlight-reel slam in the preseason. Driving to the paint, the former Rookie of the Year bounced a pass to a cutting Miller, who then seemed to defy gravity to put two Rockets defenders on a poster.

The California native could have featured in another possible top-10 play of the night after dropping Tari Eason with a wicked crossover near the end of the opening stanza, but he couldn't sink the 3-pointer.

Ball proceeded to record a strong first half, finishing with 14 points and five assists before intermission. However, Charlotte's lack of discipline on defense let the Rockets run up the margin to 60-49. It also didn't help that Miller had to leave the match because of an injury. That left the 23-year-old floor general and Miles Bridges as the only two remaining starters, with Mark Williams and Josh Green already sitting out the contest.

It appeared the Hornets were on the way to giving up the loss, but an inspired run by the squad near the end of the third quarter brought it back to life. A Bridges steal at the start of the fourth period ended in an alley-oop slam off a Ball lob to give Charlotte an 85-83 lead.

The rest of the evening was a back-and-forth affair between the teams, with the Hornets eventually coming out on top with a 110-105 victory, thanks in large part to Ball's heroics. Following a 98-98 tie, he scored or assisted on 10 of his squad's last 12 points.

He finished the evening with 34 points (on 10-20 shooting from the field and 10-10 shooting from the free-throw line), eight rebounds, 11 assists, and a game-high plus/minus +14 to begin his comeback campaign on a great note.