At number three in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat are clawing their way out despite the absence of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Although the NBA team has yet to find ways to reach the LeBron James squad on top, the basketball stars stepping up to take on the leadership roles provides optimism to fans. However, it looks like big man Hassan Whiteside is not paying attention to the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
Rather, the 26-year-old center has his sights on beating the Golden State Warriors. To be more specific, Whiteside wants to put to shame Draymond Green. Before their first ever face-off, the two centers have never met. In fact, they have never seen each other personally before. However, Whiteside and Green know each other quite well in social media. Even before their head to head in Miami, the two have been engaged in a vicious but entertaining Twitter spat.
Although the issue occurred in the summer, Whiteside appears not to have forgotten the insults hurled at him courtesy of the Golden State Warriors center. In an interview before the match against the Stephen Curry team, the former Sacramento Kings star took a shot against Green once more.
"It's gonna be really interesting," responded Whiteside to the question about the Golden State Warriors' playing style, according to Palm Beach Post. He added, "I hope they don't play (7-footer Andrew) Bogut as much. I would love to get after some of their smaller guys."
Whiteside went on to point out that he still has the Twitter war against Green in mind. He shared, "He basically said he makes more money than me and I'm from the D-League. It's a little motivation."
The Miami Heat center further explained, "I wasn't even talking to him, but fans started at-ing him and telling him Hassan's talking about you. He was like, 'Can you score?' and I said, 'Guard me and you'll find out.' I don't know what money's got to do with it, but OK."
The issue began when Whiteside shared that "small ball only works on centers that can't score," according to The Big Lead. He continued to share his challenge of having a 6'6" center to guard him. This caught the ire of Green who assumed that the Twitter post targeted the Golden State Warriors. The latter then questioned the ability of Whiteside to score.
This led to Whiteside saying that the small ball guys will not be able to guide him. He noted, "2 dribbles in the post they going to cry for a double team FOH just watch go small ball #lightdoubledouble #getyourweightup #dontflop."
Not one to take this lying down, Green hit where it hurts. Taking a cue from his higher salary status in the NBA and the past failures of Whiteside, the Golden State Warriors center brought out the big guns. He replied, "82 million reasons to flop and the d league ain't never been 1!!!! But keep wearing shirts chasing that 2k rating #thefinerthings."
