The Miami Herald’s Israel Gutierrez writes the Heat’s Udonis Haslem, suspended during last night’s Miami victory over Chicago, turned ESPN’s Bill Walton down to zero while watching game 2 from the comfort of his home.
‘To be honest, a lot of people have been over the top,” said Haslem, who never actually mentioned Walton by name. “Commentators in the last game went over the top saying `mental instability.’
“That’s not his call to make. He doesn’t know me personally, so he can’t call me mentally instable.”
Haslem said he has never even had a ”five-minute conversation” with Walton (above), making the reaction all the more upsetting.
”Don’t make it worse by commenting on my character,” Haslem said. “I’m not that type of person, so don’t make me look like that. It upsets me because it goes back to how I was raised, and I wasn’t raised like that.”
Haslem even spoke to his agent about looking into using a different type of mouthpiece that wouldn’t be easily removed from his mouth.