LaMelo Ball’s return to the lineup is not going as expected. He made the trip to the Great White North as the Hornets take on the Raptors. But things went sideways. Apart from creating a meme on his first game back, Ball suffered a nasty injury. Worse still, the refs saw him and pretty much shrugged it off. Ball also adopted a similar attitude and nearly turned the tide upon returning to the game. But the Raptors’ last-minute play ended the game 108-110 in their favor.

The incident happened in the third quarter, with over nine minutes left in the game. The Hornets were down 1 point (61-62) at the time. Ball caught an elbow right in the middle of his face from Raptors’ guard, Immanuel Quickley. It was bad enough for his nose to bleed like a faucet and bring an official timeout. He was attended to at the bench by medical staff with towels.

The entire incident happened a few feet away from a referee. It was visible on every replay. And yet no foul was called. Even the announcers were stunned at the lack of a whistle.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be that serious. After a bit, Ball was back in the game. He hit a three at the end of the third quarter that brought the Hornets within 81-83 and dropped a few dimes too.

LaMelo Ball also played the fourth quarter, where his assist to Miles Bridges resulted in a three that put Charlotte ahead 108-106. Unfortunately for them, Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett scored consecutively, and the game ended in the Raptors’ home win.

The 24-year-old played all of 28 minutes. He finished the game with a near double-double return: 20 points, five rebounds, and eight assists on 6-of-19 shooting and went 7-for-7 at the free throw line.

Unfortunately for the Raptors, too, their win and Ball’s own bloody nose were overshadowed by LaMelo’s… ‘leadership.’

LaMelo Ball was ‘heard’ in epic return

LaMelo Ball’s right ankle has been problematic for a while now. It got him sidelined for five straight games. The Hornets were simultaneously depleted with six players on the injured list. The result was two consecutive losses and one win in the last six games.

Going into the Raptors game, Hornets nation could breathe a sigh of relief seeing LaMelo Ball back in the starting lineup. The point guard has established himself as a vocal leader, but tonight it got too literal…

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In the first half, before inhaling an elbow, the Hornets were on a run with the ball in Sion James’ hands. LaMelo was spearheading it and wanted to get James’ attention. So he screeched “BAAALLLL” like a talking pterodactyl on steroids. He was not even mic’ed up, and the entire ScotiaBank Arena heard his demands.

Maybe it’s having the most on-brand basketball last name, but that moment became an instant meme after the whole 6-7 meme chaos on the internet.

It even discounted the fact that his supersonic voice worked. James passed the ball to Ball, who dished it to Kon Kneuppel. He made a three and tied them at 11-11.

Now we just need LaMelo to do a presser to show if his nose and vocal chords are intact.