Dwyane Wade is suspended for tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons after his incident earlier this week where he kicked Ramon Session in the Lil Ramons. It was no doubt a dirty play and he deserved to sit a game or two, but a lot of people were crowning him the dirtiest player in the NBA. Leave it to twitter to overreact, and the Miami Heat organization took notice.
Normally, when a team releases a statement they are very generic and supportive of their player and the league’s decision. In the case of the Heat, they went on a little bit of an offensive in their official statement posted on facebook.
While we accept the decision of the NBA regarding Dwyane Wade, we do not agree with it. In his 10 years in the league, Dwyane has never been suspended, and has been an exemplary player and positive influence to his teammates and fans and we have been honored to have him as part of the Miami HEAT family. Unfortunately, he is the type of player, along with other players on our roster, that defenses take privileges with. We stand with Dwyane and support him in this situation and have made our feelings known to the league office.
The interesting part of the quote is “defenses take privileges with”. It is obvious that the Heat are going to get their opponents best night in night out (with the exception of San Antonio) and they are also going to get challenged a little more than usual physically. It is interesting that they are saying his dirty play was reactionary.
Pat Riley is a master manipulator and this statement has his thumbprints all over it. From the owner down the line, this is not an organization that is afraid to make their opinion and displeasure known.