Early in the second quarter, Miami Heat captain Bam Adebayo was shaken up when he took a hard fall on the court. Video evidence proved Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was guilty. Fans wasted no time jumping on social media to criticize Ball for his move, and here is how it transpired.

With 11:10 remaining in the second quarter, Ball attempted a floater, but Miami’s Simone Fontecchio swatted the attempt. Adebayo did his best and grabbed the ball from going out of bounds. That’s when he took the hit.

It was a domino effect because when Fontechhio blocked the shot, he made contact with Ball, who fell to the ground. While the Hornets guard hit the ground, Bam was trying his best to keep possession. But he was disbalanced, and when he tried to land, Ball swept him off his feet.

Why fans were quick to call it a dirty foul was because of the intention of LaMelo Ball. The Heat star Adebayo was only balancing on his left foot when he kept the possession alive. As soon as Ball hit the ground, in the next second, he took the very leg that Bam was balancing on.

The no-call from the officials baffled fans, Heat players, and their head coach, Erik Spoelstra. In fact, the play was also not reviewed as there was no stoppage to give officials a chance to review the play. Is this a dirty play by LaMelo? pic.twitter.com/tPebBPDLDC — NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 15, 2026 After being attended to by trainers, Bam Adebayo got to his feet and walked off under his own power and was taken to the locker room.

At first, Heat declared him questionable for the rest of the game, but later declared him out. With his ability to guard every position on the floor, Adebayo is Miami’s anchor on defense. His absence would leave a big gap in both defense and rebounding.

The Heat started the second half with Jaime Jacquez Jr. in place of Adebayo. The Miami captain had six points and three rebounds while making all three of his shots in the first half before leaving the game. Hornets knew why this was an advantage.

The Heat won the regular season series 3-1. But that one loss came in March, as the Hornets dominated a short-handed Heat team without Bam Adebayo, 136-106. Unfortunately for Miami, they suffered another loss, this time in OT.

Without Bam on the floor, LaMelo Ball all the way to the rim out of the timeout to take a 127-126 lead. Later, a huge block from Miles Bridges sealed the win for the Hornets. Charlotte now awaits the loser of tomorrow’s matchup between Orlando and Philadelphia.

Fans did not give grace to LaMelo Ball as Bam Adebayo took the hit Adebayo also averaged 25.0 points over his two games against the Hornets this season, shooting a solid 47.6% in that span. When he left, it gave Charlotte an advantage. Since there was no call against Ball, fans want some action from the officials.

“If the Hornets win and advance he should be suspended for at least for game. That’s dirty.” Similar comments filled social media, and the majority blamed LaMelo Ball for his split-second decision. “This is 100% dirty and LaMelo should have been tossed.

That’s disgraceful.” Another netizen equated it to Joel Embiid’s leg-grab on Mitchell Robinson from the 2024 playoffs. Embiid fell to the floor after a layup attempt. While sprawled on his back, he reached out and grabbed Robinson’s right ankle, who jumped for an offensive rebound, and dunk.

The Knicks star fell awkwardly and was visibly hobbled. That play was stopped immediately; the officials reviewed it and handed the 76ers star a flagrant 1. LaMelo Ball’s action against Bam Adebayo was pretty similar.

“Dirty af. Same thing Embiid did to Mitch”. Clearly, there was a lot of support for Adebayo, who was recently on the receiving end of criticism for breaking Kobe Bryant’s 81-point record.

A fan said, “I despise the Heat but this was a trash play. Completely uncalled for”. While the support was on Bam’s side, fans made LaMelo Ball the villain.

“I’ve lost my respect for lamelo this is so unprofessional”. Before the matchup, ESPN gave the Heat only a 27.4% chance to win, and those chances came down pretty quickly as Bam Adebayo remained on the sidelines. The team was seconds away from moving onto the second play-in game toward the end of regulation, but wasn’t able to close it out.