LaMelo Ball is absurdly talented. Until he plays on — let alone leads — anything but a bad team, we’re going to have endless debates about whether he’s a true, substantive, winning NBA player. But there is no debating his talent. He can be, and often is, breathtaking.

There is absolutely nothing Ball can’t do with the basketball in his hands, and on Saturday night he did something he has never done in an NBA game by scoring 50 points in a 119-112 loss to the Bucks. Ball required 38 shots, including 17 3-point attempts, in 40 minutes to hit the half-century mark, but hey, a 50-piece is a 50-piece.

Ball only had 10 points and halftime before exploding for 22 in the third quarter and 18 in the fourth as he tried to rally the Hornets back. He got them within five with his final bucket with 42 seconds to play, and Charlotte actually cut the deficit to two on a Brandon Miller 3-pointer (Miller was fantastic again with 32 points and 11 rebounds) with 15 seconds to go, but the Bucks were able to close out the win at the free throw line.

A couple notes on Ball’s huge night:

Ball and Miller are now the second-youngest duo to each score at least 30 points in back to back games. Only Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook did it at a younger combined age.
Ball joins Kemba Walker as thew only two players in Hornets history with a 50-point game, though both of Walker’s efforts came in games that went to overtime.
Ball is the fifth player this season to score 50, joining De’Aaron Fox (60), Giannis Antetokounmpo (59), Paolo Banchero (50) and Victor Wembanyama (50).
But here’s the most shocking number of all: Ball’s previous career high was 38 points. That is a stunningly low number for a scorer as electric as Ball who has seemingly had so many big games. When my editor put the note in, I had to check it three times to be sure. It’s true. Until Saturday, Ball had never scored more than 38 points in an NBA game. Guys score 38 in their sleep nowadays.

The first time Ball scored 38 was in February of 2022 in a loss at Boston, and the second time was less than two weeks ago in an overtime loss at Philadelphia. Ball is absolutely cooking this season at 30.2 points per game, the highest mark for any guard and behind only Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis for the league’s overall scoring lead. He also leads the league with 73 3-pointers made.

The Houston Rockets were upset by the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday and Fred VanVleet was pointing the finger at the officials. Literally. With four seconds remaining and the Rockets down by five, VanVleet was whistled for an offensive foul and proceeded to point at every ref on the floor while offering some NSFW words.

That got him ejected, and on the way out he came extremely close to jamming his finger into the face of official John Conley. This is going to cost him a lot of money, and potentially some games in the form of a suspension.

Fred Van Vleet commits a frustration foul then points to each referee individually and tells them “you suck, you suck, and you suck… bitch asses” then points at the referee who ejects him and says “you’re a bitch” pic.twitter.com/eo4wjnj4W6

— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 24, 2024
VanVleet’s frustration with the officials seemingly stemmed from the possession before his ejection, when he felt he was fouled on a 3-point attempt with the Rockets trailing by three. After the game, VanVleet told reporters that he could hear the Portland bench instructing Toumani Camara to intentionally foul with the Blazers trying to protect a three-point lead, and that he felt he anticipated Camara’s contact by going into his shooting motion. You can be the judge if this is a natural shooting motion, but nonetheless, VanVleet didn’t get the call.

Even if it is contact the refs aren’t calling a foul. That is a bad play by VanVleet. No way around it. pic.twitter.com/osNT0XJEKB

— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) November 24, 2024
To be fair, crew chief Courtney Kirkland admitted after the game that a foul should have been called on Camara, but that it would not have resulted in free throws for VanVleet as the contact occurred before the shot.

“In live action, we felt that the defender stayed directly on the path of VanVleet during his attempted motion toward the basket,” Kirkland said. “After video review, we see the defender did close space and did make contact with the hip of VanVleet and a foul should have been called. However, shots would not have been awarded on the play.”

As for VanVleet’s ejection, Kirkland confirmed what everyone could see: “VanVleet was ejected on one technical foul for his vulgar language and pointing at all three officials.”

Again, we’ll await word on whatever punishment the league decides is appropriate for VanVleet, but you can bet he’s not getting off scot-free for this. A fine is a near certainty, and it would not be surprising if a suspension is handed down as well.

The No. 7 overall pick in June’s NBA Draft, 7-foot-2 Donovan Clingan is already doing things we don’t usually see from first-year big men. He’s blocked at least one shot in his first 17 career games, which only three other players in history have done — they all happen to be Hall of Famers (Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O’Neal and Pau Gasol … not to mention he just passed Michael Jordan). But in Saturday night’s 104-98 win over the Houston Rockets, Clingan etched his name into the annals of historically bizarre NBA stat lines.

Drawing the start in place of the injured Deandre Ayton, Clingan pulled down a career-best 19 rebounds … without scoring a single point. He’s the first player to go scoreless with at least 19 rebounds since Omer Asik in November of 2012, per Stathead. Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman did it seven times over the course of his career, once recording a zero-point, 28-rebound game with the San Antonio Spurs.

Clingan’s feat was all the more impressive, however, because it came in just 25 minutes of action. The last player to pull down at least 19 rebounds in 25 or fewer minutes was Steven Adams in 2022. The Blazers rookie added three blocks, one steal and one assist to his extremely rare statistical evening. In the locker room afterward, Clingan’s teammates showered him with chants of “19” from every direction.

“It feels good,” Clingan said of the praise from his teammates. “I’m working hard and just trying to help my team win. So if that’s what it does, that’s what it does.”

The UConn product has put up a solid rookie campaign with averages of 5.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in just 17 minutes per game, recording a career-high eight blocks just over a week ago against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The injury to Ayton and load management for fellow big Robert Williams has led to increased playing time for Clingan, who has taken full advantage by averaging 7.7 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.2 blocks in his last six games — all starts — in which the Blazers have gone 4-2.