LaMelo Ball seemingly embraced a villainous role in a play-in game against the Miami Heat as his Charlotte Hornets fought to get into the NBA Playoffs.
Tuesday’s game featured a winner-moves-on situation, with the loser officially eliminated from the postseason. That meant it was a high-stakes game for both squads, and they each had their lineups at full strength, at least into the second quarter.
That’s when things took a turn for the worse for Miami, which lost its star player for the remainder of the game. Bam Adebayo grabbed a loose ball following a Heat defensive play in the lane against Ball, but had to balance himself on one leg.
He stepped on the out-of-bounds line, while Ball fell on his back. As Ball was on the ground, he grabbed Adebayo’s leg, seeming to swipe it out from under him. After the shocking moment, Adebayo and head coach Erik Spoelstra complained to the referees about what occurred.
Bam Adebayo Exits Play-in Game With Injury After LaMelo Ball Leg Swipe
Adebayo then exited the game for further evaluation. The NBA on Prime crew later announced he had suffered a lower-back injury and was “questionable” to return for his team.
That occurred early in the second quarter, and he hadn’t checked back in throughout the second half. His team still managed to contend with the Hornets without him on the floor, but the replay seems to show clear evidence of a potentially malicious play by Ball.
Some might see it as Ball not intending to trip or hurt Adebayo, but that point received a lot of debate on social media.
Basketball fans took exception to Ball’s play, prompting Adebayo to exit the game. Many sounded off in replies to an X post showing the injury-causing play.
“Unprofessional and cheap af. Lamelo is a garbage player,” one commenter wrote, with many agreeing with the comment.
“This is 100% dirty and LaMelo should have been tossed. That’s disgraceful,” another commenter said.
“Nah that HAS to be a suspension or fine of some kind, and s*** I WANT the Heat to lose but that’s too f***ing blatant,” an X comment said.
“If the Hornets win and advance he should be suspended for at least Game 1 of the next round, maybe even a two game suspension. That’s dirty,” an individual said on X.
Others wrote, “I’ve lost my respect for lamelo this is so unprofessional,” and “It’s disgraceful and infuriating that nothing was called.”
The Sofi NBA Play-In Tournament determines which teams in each conference receive the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds, with the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds competing. Charlotte was the No. 9 seed while Miami was the No. 10 seed, and the losing team in their game would see its season end.
It should be interesting to see whether the NBA will review the play and assess anything against Ball. As of this writing, the two teams were in a back-and-forth battle to advance to play another play-in game later this week, and if the Heat were able to move on, they’d hope to have Adebayo available against either the Orlando Magic or Philadelphia 76ers.
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