Spoelstra: No need to penalize Hornets' Ball any further - ESPN

MIAMI — In Miami, the NBA's decision that LaMelo Ball grabbing Bam Adebayo was an ejection-worthy flagrant foul didn't register much of a reaction.

In Charlotte, the fact that the ruling didn't include a suspension brought relief.

Ball will play Friday for the Hornets in their play-in elimination game at Orlando — the reality that Charlotte coach Charles Lee hoped for, and something that Miami coach Erik Spoelstra didn't seem to have a problem with.

«I didn't think that he needed to be penalized more moving forward. I don't think that would make sense,» Spoelstra said Thursday as the Heat held their season-ending meetings — two days after being eliminated from postseason contention with a 127-126 loss in Charlotte, a game that Adebayo missed much of after being injured on a play where Ball grabbed at his ankle as he was falling.

«I don't think he's a dirty player. I just think, in that moment, all things can be true,» Spoelstra said. «It was a dirty play and a dangerous play. It should have been caught at that moment. But it wasn't and then, you know, you move on.»

The league said Ball made «unnecessary and reckless contact» with Adebayo. Ball was fined $35,000 for the foul, plus another $25,000 for using profanity in a postgame on-court interview.

Adebayo added Thursday that he hasn't yet gotten an apology from Ball.

«It didn't happen,» he said. «I want it to be out there. At some point I'll see him again and we'll have that conversation.»

The flagrant foul from Tuesday's game, if called as a Category 2 in real time, would have resulted in Miami being awarded two free throws and possession of the ball — plus would have led to Ball's ejection.

An NBA investigation is standard after such plays; referee Zach Zarba even