It’s no secret that the Golden State Warriors were able to win their first championship in 40 years largely by going to the unconventional small ball lineup when it mattered the most. For whatever reason, Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside took a shot at the concept of small ball during the offseason.
It’s unclear if Whiteside was referring to what the Warriors did specifically, but the center was adamant that he could dominate any matchup if a team went small against him. In came Draymond Green (who happens to be the key component when going small for the Warriors), who saw Whiteside tweet his thoughts and decided to subtweet a thought of his own. From there, it escalated into a war of subtweets, as you can see below:
If Hassan Whiteside plays, it’ll be his first matchup against Draymond Green since their Twitter beef pic.twitter.com/d4HlW5mzsY
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 12, 2016
Although it has been four-plus months since the incident occurred, trash talk of that magnitude can’t soon be forgotten. Trevor Booker of the Utah Jazz, for one, was itching to see the two go at it on Monday as the the Heat visited the Warriors:
Can’t wait to see this @Money23Green and @youngwhiteside matchup tonight. Major trash talk going on lol
— Trevor Booker (@35_Fitz) January 12, 2016
Unfortunately, Whiteside ended up missing the contest due to pain in his knee. Green did play and had 22 points, 12 rebounds and six assists to help the Warriors to a 111-103 victory. Undoubtedly, Green would have had a chance to guard Whiteside at some point during the game due to Golden State’s tendency to go small on a regular basis. The fun didn’t happen on Monday, but the two will still have a chance to settle the score when the Warriors visit the Heat on February 24, provided both players are healthy enough to play.
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.