That’s one was to cause a scene.
Miami Heat veteran big man Dewayne Demon was ejected from his team’s home clash with the OKC Thunder on Wednesday (all times AEDT) after throwing a massage gun onto the court.
After being pulled from the game early in the second quarter, Dedmon was seen arguing with the Heat staff including coach Erik Spoelstra, before storming away and hitting the Theragun so hard it was sent onto the middle of floor to cause a bizarre interruption of live play.
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Wed, 11 Jan
Wednesday January 11th
“I was watching during that last stoppage of play during that timeout and Dedmon was having a verbal argument with some of the staff including Caron Butler. Udonis Haslem was trying to step in and calm things down,” ESPN’s Stephanie Ready explained on the television broadcast.
“I don’t know exactly what escalated the conversation, but it was very heated – I could tell from this distance. When he stormed off, that was what you saw, the result of his frustration with whatever that conversation was.”
It meant a shorthanded Heat side that was already playing with just a nine-man roster – with the likes of Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin all out – was down to an eight-player rotation.
But Spoelstra downplayed the Dedmon incident, telling ESPN: “It’s a regular Tuesday night (EST) for the Miami Heat. We’re in a one-point game and we have some skirmishes on the bench.”
Many were mystified by Dedmon’s bizarre blow up including former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy.
“What possessed him to do that?” Van Gundy posed on ESPN.
“I really don’t care if he’s upset – players can get upset. Granted, players can yell at coaches, I don’t have a problem with that in the heat of the moment.
“Especially on a night when you’ve got nine guys, you can’t do this. You can’t do anything to get ejected from the game when you’re already as shorthanded as the Heat are. That’s inexcusable.”
Some even questioned if it could spell the end of the 33-year old’s time with the Heat.
Miami reporter Wes Goldberg highlighted that on the previous play, Dedmon lacked desperation on the defensive end didn’t protect the rim as the Thunder scored an easy bucket before he was taken out of the game for Orlando Robinson.
Goldberg noted it’s unclear if it was related to Dedmon getting so fired up.
