Whiteside Suspended For Cheap Shot Against Kelly

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/heat-s-hassan-whiteside-suspended-1-game-for-flagrant-elbow-on-celtics--kelly-olynyk-192735788.html



Heat's Hassan Whiteside suspended 1 game for flagrant elbow on Celtics' Kelly Olynyk
Dan Devine By Dan Devine
4 hours ago
Ball Don't Lie


Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside has been suspended for one game without pay for elbowing the Boston Celtics' Kelly Olynyk in the back of the neck on Monday night, the NBA announced Tuesday.

The play in question took place just past the three-minute mark of the third quarter at AmericanAirlines Arena:



After a Brandon Bass dunk gave Boston a 66-58 lead, Olynyk put a forearm into Whiteside at the foul line. The Miami big man took exception, getting an elbow up high on Olynyk as the two tangled near the free-throw line. As Heat guard Mario Chalmers drove to the basket, Olynyk slid toward the baseline to cut off his path. Whiteside followed him in with a full head of steam, cleaning Olynyk out with a forearm (or, as the league saw it, an elbow) to the back of the neck.

Whiteside was slapped with a flagrant foul-2 for "unnecessary and excessive contact," mandating his ejection. It was Whiteside's second heave-ho in less than a week, with the first coming after he wrestled Alex Len during Miami's win over the Phoenix Suns last Tuesday.

Whiteside received a $15,000 fine for that tangle, but escaped more substantial discipline from the league office. That wasn't the case this time, though, and that means he'll miss Miami's Wednesday matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, who currently sit two games behind the Heat in the race for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. (Miami enters Tuesday's action in ninth place at 28-35, a half-game back of the 28-34 Indiana Pacers and Charlotte Hornets.)

After Whiteside got himself run from Monday's 100-90 loss to the visiting Celtics, Heat star Dwyane Wade shared his frustration with the talented but at-times immature big man's comportment as the team tries to make a playoff push without injured centerpiece Chris Bosh.

"He's had enough veteran advice," Wade said after scoring a game-high 34 points on 13-for-23 shooting in the loss. "There comes a time where you have to do it yourself. There's only so many words people can continue to say to you. You gotta do it. Not for you — you gotta do it for the other guys in here that you see sacrificing. That you see out there playing hurt and all the things that are going on.

"You're part of a team," Wade continued. "You're part of an organization. We all have our moments, our selfish moments. But you can't continue to keep having them, because you gotta be reliable and you gotta be able to be counted on. And right now, if he continues to act that way, then he's not reliable."

Whiteside, for his part, expressed remorse for his actions in talking to reporters on Tuesday, according to Joseph Goodman Jr. of the Miami Herald:

“I feel terrible about it,” Whiteside said. “It’s probably the worst 12 hours of my life, you know, because just from the fact that we lost the game, and I let what happened with my personal stuff on the court [affect] the team. And I even reached out to Kelly, and I apologized, and he said he accepted my apology and he wishes me much success in the future.” [...]

“We’re in the playoff hunt, and it was just a terrible decision on my part,” Whiteside said of his flagrant foul. “I just want to apologize to everybody, the Heat fans. I apologized to the coaches, and the team, and everybody and that can’t happen.”

Three months ago, it would've been unthinkable to place such import on the availability of Whiteside, who's spent the bulk of his first four professional seasons bouncing around from the big league to the D-League to leagues in Lebanon and China. But Whiteside's been one of the league's more remarkable stories since his December emergence, plugging Miami's glaring hole at center by gobbling up rebounds, locking down the lane and hammering home thunderous dunks whenever he gets the ball within a Go-Go-Gadget arm's length of the basket.

Now, Whiteside's an integral part of Miami's playoff hopes, a starting center averaging better than 12 points, 11 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per in 25 minutes per game since Christmas. He's a two-way difference-maker in whose minutes Miami has outscored opponents by one point per 100 possessions (which would rate as the 15th-best net rating in the league over the course of the season) and without whom the Heat have been outscored by 4.6 points-per-100 (which would be the NBA's sixth-worst mark, right between the lottery-bound Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings).

For Miami to have any shot at edging out the likes of the Pacers, Hornets and Celtics for a playoff berth, Whiteside has to stay active and aggressive while coloring within the lines and, above all else, remaining on the court. Despite Whiteside's week to forget, though, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra's refusing to toss his 25-year-old pivot aside like a fedora hastily flung in the middle of "Billie Jean." From Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

"We're not turning our back on Hassan," [Spoelstra] said. "He's a family member. We're going to correct this with him and move forward.

"He understands how his actions affect the team. He wants to help us and be a part of this."
He'll start the process by cooling his heels and serving as a spectator on Wednesday, hoping Wade and company can fend off the scuffling Nets without his services.



bob




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More of the same.  Two dolts playing for the same team.  They deserve one another.

Sam