Was play by LaMelo Ball on Bam Adebayo ‘dirty?’ Hornets, Heat chime in
LaMelo Ball beat his chest and shouted a few choice words, exhilarated after draining the bucket that ensured the Charlotte Hornets lived to play another day.
So much for a drama-free night.
Ball’s game-winning overtime layup capped a wild evening that included a twinge of controversy.
It struck in the second quarter of the Hornets’ 127-126 victory over the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA’s play-in tournament thanks to an incident involving a pair of stars.
Ball and Bam Adebayo got tangled up, leading to Adebayo missing the bulk of the final three quarters and sparking chatter about the nature of the play and whether the actions of the Hornets’ star guard was intentional. Ball insists it wasn’t.
“I apologize on that one,” Ball said. “I got hit in the head, didn’t know where I was. But I’m going to check on him and see if he is OK and everything.”
With 10:58 remaining before halftime and a crowd of 19,698 — the highest attendance at Spectrum Center — looking on, Ball drove to the rim and crashed to the court following contact by Simone Fontecchio.
Ball, while still on the court, swiped his left hand and caught Adebayo’s right foot as the Miami big man tried to save the ball from going out of bounds.
Adebayo, the Pinetown native and North Carolina’s Mr. Basketball in 2016 who registered the second-most points in NBA history (83) during a win over Washington in March, crumpled in pain and appeared to land hard on his hip and back.
Asked if he intentionally tripped Adebayo, Ball insisted that was not the case.
“I haven’t even seen it,” Ball said, referring to the play. “Like I said, I got hit in the head, didn’t know where I was. I was just playing basketball. But I’m sorry, and I’m going to check on him.”
The Heat weren’t exactly pleased with how things went down on the play.
“I don’t think it’s cute, I don’t think it’s funny,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I think it’s a stupid play. It’s a dangerous play. Obviously our best player is out. I’m not making excuses. The Hornets played great, and they made those plays down the stretch. We had opportunities to win.
“That’s a shame. He should be penalized for that. I don’t think that belongs in the game. Tripping guys. Shenanigans. Somebody has got to see that. And he should have been thrown out of the game for that. … There’s no place in the game for that.”
Concerned about his health, the Heat’s entire bench walked the length of the court over to the opposite end to check on Adebayo. He nodded his head as if he was all right, but didn’t even take a seat on Miami’s bench.
Instead, Adebayo walked gingerly to the locker room and never returned despite being listed as questionable with a back injury. He never even made it onto the Heat’s bench again.
So, why wasn’t it all reviewed by the officials?
“The play wasn’t whistled in real time,” crew chief Zach Zarba said when asked about the play by The Charlotte Observer for a pool report. “Play continued with a fast break. And because play wasn’t stopped immediately, and there was no whistle on the play, the window to review the play was closed. Play was stopped after a change of possession, and then a timeout. So, by rule, our window to review that play then is closed.”
Zarba admitted it was reviewed in the locker room at halftime by his crew, as many plays were. But in terms of whether it should have risen to the level of a flagrant foul, Zarba mentioned to the NBA office.
“At this point, that goes to league operations, and they’ll make a determination on that in the coming days. So, they will make that determination and go from there.”
Spoelstra said he even made note of the play to Zarba after they failed to call anything.
“They saw it and I think I read it on his face, and it was like, “Oh (expletive), we missed that,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s the responsibility of somebody to see that. And particularly, I get it. You might not see all the action ... but you saw a frustrated player, a frustrated player … do something frustrating, a frustrating action. And that led to taking our best player out of the game, which was unfortunate.”
Miles Bridges came to Ball’s defense and was certain it wasn’t done purposefully.
“I really didn’t have a chance to look at the play, but at the same time I know Melo is not a dirty player,” Bridges said. “I’ve (known) Bam since I was 15, so we don’t wish any harm on him and I hope everything’s OK with him. But I don’t think that’s a dirty player at all.”
However it’s viewed, Spoelstra didn’t want to shortchange the Hornets winning their first NBA postseason home game since 2016.
“Now I repeat, again that had nothing to do with the end,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t want to take anything away from the Hornets. They’ve had a fantastic second half of this season, and this was just a great dog fight. It was a great dog fight. “
This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Was play by LaMelo Ball on Bam Adebayo ‘dirty?’ Hornets, Heat chime in."
