Hornets vs. Raptors Recap: The good, the bad and the LaMelo Ball

The Charlotte Hornets opened their preseason with some high highs and some low lows at home against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday. After a huge first quarter that saw them jump out to a 19-point first-quarter lead that included a 22-0 run, Charlotte struggled the remaining three quarters and fell 111-100.

Miles Bridges led the team with 12 points while Gordon Hayward had 11 points in his debut. Bismack Biyombo chipped in 11 points but the stat of the night was the 22 turnovers from the Hornets (more on that later).

Matt Thomas had 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three for Toronto as the Raptors shot 18-for-43 from beyond the arc in the victory.

Any worries of rust initially looked to be silly claims for the Hornets. After falling behind 6-3 early on in the contest, Charlotte rattled off the next 22 points of the game and led 25-6.

Everything went the Hornets way in that span. The starting lineup clicked. LaMelo Ball came into the game and hit the ground running as he has most of the preseason. The second unit looked dangerous. The defense got stops. It was presumably everything James Borrego imagined the Hornets would be in an ideal world.

Unfortunately, that span did not last but it gave a glimpse of what the team could be and offers a great building block for the Hornets players and staff to move forward with.

As quickly as the Hornets built up the lead in the first quarter, it disappeared in the snap of a finger in the second period. The Raptors not only stormed back to get themselves in the game, they took the lead by halftime and that was largely a result of 15 first-half turnovers by the Hornets.

Ultimately, the rust of not playing for nine months was delayed by one quarter as Charlotte looked a step slow and a tick off for much of the remainder of the game after the first period. In total, the Hornets finished with 22 turnovers, far more than their 14.6 per game they averaged last season.

Ball did not score on Saturday but that did not remotely stop him from making an impact. The moment he stepped onto the court in the first period, the energy level picked up and the Hornets excelled.

He showed off his passing acumen, whether it was a full-court assist to Bismack Biyombo or a nifty behind-the-back assist setting up a three-point play. On top of that, Ball pulled down 10 rebounds and did everything in 16:07 of action.

The lone other bad mark for Ball on the night was his four turnovers as he helped contribute to the ball control issues for Charlotte on the night.