LaMelo Should've Been Ejected

The Hornets-Heat play-in game delivered a wild finish, a star-making moment, and a dangerous play the league will have to address. Kon Knueppel had a brutal night and was benched in the final 90 seconds of regulation. Tyler Herro started cooking for Miami with Bam Adebayo out of the game. And Kobe White, off the bench, hit a buzzer-beating three off the inbounds to force overtime. In OT, LaMelo Ball hit the game-winner and Miles Bridges blocked Miami's final attempt. Charlotte advanced.

The real story, Rich argued, is whether LaMelo should have been in the game at all. Bam Adebayo played 11 minutes before going down on his back and not returning. The Prime Video replay showed what the live feed did not. As Adebayo's momentum carried him out of bounds, LaMelo used his left hand to grab Adebayo's plant foot and yank it out from under him. Rich called it a clear flagrant violation by any standard, whether you cite the rule book or the player code.

Erik Spoelstra did not hold back after the game, calling the play stupid, dangerous, and not cute. He said LaMelo should have been thrown out of the game. Rich played the clip and agreed.

The officiating explanation from crew chief Zach Zarba, via a pool report from Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer, was that the play was not whistled in real time. Because play continued into a fast break and then a timeout, the review window closed by rule. The crew reviewed the play at halftime. Any further determination now goes to league operations.

LaMelo's own postgame answer was muddled. He said he got hit in the head, did not know where he was, and would check on Bam. When asked directly if he grabbed the leg intentionally, he declined to confirm and said he was sorry. Rich pushed back on the logic. If it was a basketball play he did not remember making, why apologize for it?

Rich's take was that the NBA should use its cameras the way the NFL is starting to. If a reviewable act is visible after the fact, you should be able to act on it, even if the play moved on. LaMelo is electric and a star of the sport. He also has impulse problems on the court and behind the wheel, as Charlotte residents can attest. The league now has to decide what that combination is worth in a must-have game.