LaMelo Ball's Friday night showcase cemented his place above Tyrese Haliburton in NBA PG hierarchy

After Friday night, the talk is over and there's one player that clears the other.

Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

When the media talks about some of the best point guards in the NBA, both LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton's names come up. However, since last season, many outlets had ranked Ball behind Haliburton with good reason. The Charlotte Hornets' point guard had been off the court dealing with ankle injuries over the course of the last couple of seasons, which had potentially led to some forgetting about the level of talent he possesses.

Both players were selected in the first round of the 2020 NBA Draft and have been their respectable team's best players. However on Friday night, Ball finally showed to the world that him and Haliburton are not on the same level nor in the same conversation.

Ball dominated Haliburton during winning time

Neither Ball or Haliburton both didn't shoot the ball at their best on Friday night, but when Haliburton faltered, Ball stepped up. Ball finished the game with 31 points, six assists, and seven rebounds, while shooting 10-29 from the field, including five three-pointers and just one turnover on his stat sheet. Ball dropped 17 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter, icing the game for his Hornets. When it mattered he took control, while on the other side, Haliburton did the opposite.

Haliburton has had a tough start to the season and it continued on Friday night, scoring a lackluster six points while shooting 2-11 from the field and going 0-4 from range. Haliburton scored just two points in the fourth quarter, both of which came at the free throw line. His poor performance in the quarter led to the Pacers scoring just 17 in the final frame and 83 for the game.

Before the season every major outlet you could think of ranked Haliburton way above Ball and it's quite possible that the 23-year-old for the Hornets heard the noise. Not only did Ball outplay Haliburton in Friday night's game, but he also has majorly outperformed him this season. Let's take a look a the averages between the two players so far this season.

Ball and Haliburton's 2024-25 resumes

LAMELO BALL	TYRESE HALIBURTON
PPG: 28.4	PPG: 14.7
REB: 5.0	REB: 4.6
AST: 6.0	AST: 7.7
FG: 44.5%	FG: 37.9%
3PT: 37.5%	3PT: 25.4%
3PM: 4.7	3PM: 1.9

Taking a look at these statistics you see a huge disparity in both scoring and efficiency. Ball has showcased his tremendous shooting and scoring ability throughout the season, while Haliburton has struggled to find his once metronomic rhythm and jumper.

Haliburton has obviously had a down year in almost all of his statistics, but the season is nine games old now, which means the sample size is becoming more legitimate every night. So, the question remains for Haliburton, will he figure it out and re-open the conversation between him and LaMelo? To the contrary, it seems Ball has figured it out and closed the door on this conversation and the talks between these players that the media had created.

The next time these two will face off will be Sunday, December 8th in Indiana at 5:00 p.m est.

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