The Miami Heat lost more than a play-in game on Tuesday, April 14. Midway through the second quarter of Miami’s 127-126 overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Bam Adebayo was forced to leave after a sequence involving LaMelo Ball that immediately drew anger from the Heat bench.
According to Yahoo Sports, the play happened after Charlotte missed a shot near the rim. Adebayo grabbed the rebound and came down near the baseline, but as he landed, Ball—who was on the floor after the previous possession—appeared to grab the back of Adebayo’s left ankle.
Replay of LaMelo Ball grabbing Bam Adebayo’s ankle before Bam Adebayo landed on his tailbone pic.twitter.com/KVv1rkjxm2
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With his right leg still in the air, Adebayo lost his balance and crashed hard onto his lower back and tailbone.
The Heat center stayed down in visible pain before being helped to his feet and escorted to the locker room. Miami initially listed him as questionable with a lower back injury, but he never returned and was officially ruled out late in the third quarter.
Adebayo finished with six points and three rebounds in 11 minutes.
What frustrated Miami most was that no foul was called on Ball, and officials declined to review the play. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra immediately argued that the contact should have been ruled a flagrant foul and, after the game, said that Ball should not have remained in the game.
Erik Spoelstra on LaMelo Ball's dirty play on Bam:"I don't think it's cute. I don't think it's funny. I think it's a stupid play. It's a dangerous play. He should be penalized for that. I don't think that belongs in the game, tripping guys. Somebody has got to see that. He… pic.twitter.com/7pbCWPnUv8
“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. He should be penalized for that.”
Spoelstra continued, “I don't think that belongs in the game, tripping guys.”
According to referee Zach Zarba, the officials could not initiate a review because play continued and a change of possession occurred before the sequence could be stopped. That explanation did little to calm Spoelstra, who said one of the officials should have seen the contact in real time.
“Somebody has got to see that,” Spoelstra said. “He should have been thrown out of the game for that. There's no place in the game for that.”
The timing could not have been worse for Miami. Adebayo entered the night coming off the most talked-about stretch of his career. Recently, the three-time All-Star had scored 83 points against the Washington Wizards, the second-highest total in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100.
The performance vaulted him past Kobe Bryant on the all-time single-game scoring list and sparked league-wide debate, with some praising the accomplishment and others—including former Utah Jazz All-Star Gordon Hayward—questioning whether the circumstances of the game made the feat “not legit.”
But without Adebayo anchoring the paint, Miami struggled to contain Charlotte late in the game. The Hornets eventually stole the win in overtime when Ball scored the go-ahead basket with 4.7 seconds remaining.
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