I start taking a couple of steps towards Pat. Udonis Haslem steps in and I shove him out of the way. Then Zo tries to grab me. I threw him aside like he was a rag doll. Now its me and Riley face-to-face, jaw to jaw. Im poking him in the chest and he keeps slapping my finger away and its getting nasty. Noisy, too. Hes yelling (Expletive!) and Im yelling back, No, (expletive!)
Zo is trying to calm us both down and he has this kind of singsong panic in his voice. He keeps saying, Big fella, no big fella, big fella! I finally turn around and tell him, Dont worry, Im not going to hit the man. Do you think Im crazy?
At the time, Riley told the Sun Sentinel, We get mad when we lose. And he does, I do, we all do. We dont take it well, so some things happen occasionally.
At the time, the Heat, just over a season removed from the 2006 NBA title, were careening to a league-worst 15-67 finish.
Within days, ONeal would complain about a lack of shots, and within weeks would complain that a sore left hip had rendered him unable to continue to play, an ailment that disappeared upon his trade to the Suns