So many factors come into play in a NBA game, some of them completely outside of a player’s control. The most notorious factor outside of a player’s control is foul calls because while a player can control their actions, they can’t always control of that action will be called as a foul or not.

That’s the situation LaMelo Ball found himself in during the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 121-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He fouled out during the game, commuting his sixth offense and exiting the game with just minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

When calls like that start to rack up, it can compound the frustration that a player can feel and even if Ball called it a “great officiated game on his postgame interview, the sarcasm in his statement was laid on thick. 

What had Ball truly confused about the game was the moments where he claims wasn’t trying to foul at all, yet still suffered a call.

The most notable example was a now-viral moment where Ball apparently tried to help San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama off the floor in a bizarre moment where Ball nearly climbed on top of Welbanyama’s back, resulting in a foul call, even though Ball maintained that he was only helping Wembanyama up. 

“I wasn’t even trying to foul. It just kept happening,” Ball said (via Timberwolves). “First one, I tried to help Wemby up, foul. It’s just silly stuff.”

While Ball was trying to contain his frustration at the foul calls and “do the right things,” as he described it, there also could have been some frustration at his lack of performance. 

Ball scored just 10 points on 2-10 shooting, though he did add eight rebounds, four assists and three steals to make his performance more well-rounded. 

But unfortunately for the Timberwolves, they aren’t in a position where a support-oriented performance like the one Ball had is good enough. With guard Anthony Edwards out, the Timberwolves are in dire need of standout scoring from their other stars like Ball, but that wasn’t the case, at least against the Spurs. 

The tight whistle could be partially to blame for Ball’s quiet night. With the prevalent concern of a foul call no matter what he did, Ball could have had his aggression hampered. That doesn’t necessarily account for his actual inefficiency from the field when he was taking shots, but it could have been at play. 

Intentional or otherwise, Ball fouled his way out of the game at a crucial moment where the Timberwolves could have come through in the clutch to sneak by with a win. 

For a team that’s already down one star, losing another for any point of the game and for any reason is not what they want to see.