Spoelstra: No need to penalize Ball any further
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said Thursday that LaMelo Ball didn't need to be "penalized more moving forward" in the wake of the Hornets star's fine for tripping Miami's Bam Adebayo.
Iman Shumpert and Vincent Goodwill discuss LaMelo Ball tripping Bam Adebayo in the Hornets' win over the Heat. (1:23)
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."