Don't Dis Udonis

The Miami Heat was able to hold off a late charge from the Chicago Bulls to win 115-108 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series, despite being without the services of Udonis Haslem. Haslem had been suspended for one game for throwing his mouthpiece at official Joey Crawford. While Haslem did admit that he made a mistake, he wasn't too pleased with the comments that Bill Walton made while calling the game.
''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.''

This acknowledgement makes Udonis Haslem the first person ever to actually give credence to anything said by Bill Walton, who's been known to speak in hyperbole on an occasion or two. Even still, Walton was just judging Haslem by his actions. And while we've all seen players slam or kick basketball after being upset with a call, this is the first mouthpiece assault I've ever seen. Sure it isn't Ron Artest crazy, but it is at least unusual.

Haslem assured Pat Riley that it wouldn't happen again. He then said he checked with his agent to see if he could get a new mouthpiece that wasn't so easy to remove.

So, just to make sure I have things clear- Haslem is so uncertain of his own self-discipline with his mouthpiece that he feels it might be necessary to weld the thing into his mouth to ensure that he won't start pelting refs with it after each whistle? Sounds mentally stable to me. I don't know what the big redhead could have been thinking.