LaMelo Ball drops 50 points in loss to Bucks, blowing past his stunningly low previous career high

Ball managed to get up 38 shots in 40 minutes

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.