Waiters responds
DETROIT — Two days after being accused of making a dirty play, Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters defended himself.
Before Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, Waiters said there was nothing intentional about a collision with Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert on Friday night. The players crashed into each other when Waiters tried to dive for a loose ball in the third quarter.
“I’ve never been a dirty player in my life,” Waiters said. “I went for the ball. Tell him to get out of his feelings and that’s what it is, just like that.”
Gobert took to Twitter after the game to express his frustration. He tweeted, “Dove for the ball right …” accompanied by video of the play. Gobert left the game briefly with a knee bruise before returning late. On Saturday, it was revealed he sustained a right tibia contusion and is out four to six weeks.
“I didn’t even know that was him,” Waiters said. “I went for the ball, making a basketball play. He [goes] right to social media. I ain’t a social media guy. At the end of the day, that [expletive] don’t matter. Tell him to get out of his feelings. We won, they lost. So what.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he saw it from both perspectives but didn’t believe Waiters was trying to cause harm. Last season, Gobert dealt with a sprained MCL after bumping knees with Houston Rockets forward Luc Richard Mbah A Moute.
“Those are always tough plays when it’s a loose ball,” Spoelstra said. “It’s tough. That’s why we’re first hoping that he’s OK. But our point of emphasis all the time is if you see a loose ball you better put your nose on it. Usually the guys that are reaching for it, two things happen you don’t end up getting in and then secondly you leave yourself a chance of something like that. For us, I can see it both ways, our point in emphasis with Dion is sell out to those loose balls, something he’s improving on.”
Waiters said he would have preferred Gobert discuss the incident in private instead of spreading his opinion on social media.
“I’ve never been a dirty player in my life,” Waiters said. “If he thought it was a dirty play, you come to me as a man and you ask me and I’ll tell him the same [expletive] I’m saying now. I saw it on social media, late, after the win. I’m not a dirty player.”