Whiteside thrives after benching
Center bounces back with big performance in victory over Suns.
PHOENIX — The Heat have a standard for their players, and Hassan Whiteside did not live up to it in Monday’s loss to the Warriors.
So Whiteside was benched with 10:47 to go in the third quarter of that game and never returned. But he bounced back in a big way in Wednesday’s win over the Phoenix Suns with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
“There’s a certain standard of how we want to play,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after Miami’s 126115 victory. “And different things happen in different games, and you just need to be emotionally stable to learn, to adapt to be ready for the next game and produce for your teammates. But Hassan was tremendous. He had a great motor, great disposition. His focus level was extremely high. He knows how important he is for our success.
“When he’s playing at this kind of level, this ballclub can win a lot of games.”
It’s true.
Miami was 7-3 last season when Whiteside finished with a double-double and also finished with four or more blocks in the same game. The Heat are 1-0 after he turned in one of those performances in Phoenix.
“We came back, bounced back well and we’re trending in the right direction,” Whiteside said. “I think we started the road trip 23rd in defense. Now we’re just slowly climbing up, and in the last five games we’ve been a top-five defense. That’s what we want to get back to. I want to be the driving force for that.”
One of Whiteside’s best defensive plays Wednesday came when 6-foot-1 Suns rookie point guard Mike James attempted to dunk on him in the second quarter. Whiteside made James regret that decision with one of his four blocks.
“He just jumped up and put some force behind that dunk,” Whiteside said. “I didn’t know he could dunk like that. But I just go up, challenge anyone at the rim. He tried, man, and he’s definitely got some heart for trying. Not too many guys will try that.”
After the block, Whiteside stared at James. But it wasn’t to taunt him, Whiteside was just surprised James attempted to dunk over him.
“I was just so shocked,” Whiteside said. “I looked at him and then he didn’t get up. So now I was thinking he was hurt. I was like, ‘What was he thinking?’ Then the next couple seconds I was like, ‘Is he all right?’ Because he just stayed lying down.”
The only concern regarding Whiteside after Wednesday’s win had to do with a sore left hand he sustained when fouled late in the game.
“I went down and it bent backward when I fell,” he said. “But I’m OK. I just want to put ice on it, keep it from swelling.”