LaMelo Ball injuring Bam Adebayo was a key talking point in Tuesday's Miami Heat-Charlotte Hornets game
Guard LaMelo Ball was the hero for Charlotte Hornets fans after his performance in Tuesday's victory against the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament.
Ball, however, was called a villain by the Heat organization. While he finished with 30 points, he was involved in what many called a dirty play in the first half. Ball was on the ground when he grabbed Heat star Bam Adebayo's leg, causing him to fall. Adebayo left the game for good with a back injury. The loss ended the Heat's season.
"I apologize on that one, Ball said. "I got hit in the head. I didn't know where I was but I'm going to check on him to see if he's OK and everything."
Heat legend Udonis Haslem refused to single out Ball for the play. He felt the officials should have stepped in. No foul call was made on a play when many players have been ejected from games for less.
"Definitely a leg whip," Haslem said at halftime on the Amazon Prime broadcast. "Definitely a little WWE there. What I will say, LaMelo is not a dirty player. I don't think he meant to do that intentionally to hurt Bam ... The unfortunate thing is the ref is sitting right there, that's gotta be a call. Something has to be called. I don't know if that's a flagrant or a regular foul . That's up to the discretion of the referee but I think something has to be called at that point of the game. That's a huge play to miss."
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra fumed about the incident during the post-game. He felt Ball should be reprimanded.
"I don’t think it's cute," Spoelstra said. "I don’t think it's funny, I think it’s a stupid play, it’s a dangerous play. Obviously, our best player was out. I’m not making any excuse; the Hornets played great. They made those plays down the stretch. We had our opportunities to win. That’s a shame, [Ball] should be penalized for that, I don’t think that belongs in the game, tripping guys, shenanigans."
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com