"He started it right in front of me, attacking my teammate, and I had to pay him back, it’s as simple as that," Foster explained his reason for shoving Shaquille O’Neal.
"I don’t know what the referees were doing. Is it because we’re in the American Airlines Arena, or did they have to protect Shaquille O’Neal? For the same actions, why was Jeff immediately ejected?" Rick Carlisle continued to bombard the refereeing of tonight’s game after the match.
"I don’t see any problem, Shaq doesn’t want anyone dunking over him, and Jeff doesn’t want Shaq dunking over him either, it’s that simple," little O’Neal said regarding Foster’s action on Shaquille O’Neal.
More journalists crowded into the Pacers’ post-game press conference.
There was only one person sitting in front of the microphone, and that was Su Wan.
Erin stood up before anyone else, ready to ask a question. A journalist who wanted to ask first expressed dissatisfaction, "She didn’t wait for the staff to signal that it was okay to ask questions, she just stood up."
Su Wan glanced at him, saw the "dog tag" hanging around his neck marked with Miami media, and said disdainfully, "You might not understand, but this is her privilege."
After saying this, he signaled Erin to start asking questions without caring about that Miami person.
"We want to know, after you were pulled by Shaquille O’Neal, did you feel any discomfort?"
"I don’t know yet, after the interview, I need to work with the team doctor to get some scans done to know the final result, specifically, maybe we’ll know tomorrow."
After Erin asked her question, she sat down.
But this question set the tone for today’s press conference:
It was Shaquille O’Neal who initiated the physical actions, and Su Wan didn’t rule out the risk of being injured, and for the time being, he himself was also unclear about the situation.
The Miami journalist, hearing Erin manage to ask her question first and then sit down, understood this was Su Wan’s person.
But as an ardent fan of the Heat Team, he had to ask for an explanation for Shaquille O’Neal’s injury.
"Su, how would you comment on Jeff Foster’s rough action on Shaq? I remember you saying that you hate players who play dirty like Bruce Bowen. Now, Jeff Foster did the same thing."
"He was just avenging his teammate, it’s that simple. If you insist on distorting the truth, I can find a video tape anytime for everyone to see, who started it, Shaq or Jeff. If it was Jeff, I will apologize on his behalf!"
"But you were trying to dunk over Shaq, which is his consistent attitude. No one dares to dunk over him, so you provoked Shaq first."
"If dunking over him means he can do that? Is that a special privilege given by Miami? Jeff also doesn’t like anyone dunking over him! Moreover... it was he who started trash-talking me, from the start of the game to the second half, non-stop. I was just showing my stance!"
"You guys are friends, right? You watched a car race together in Indiana, you have a friendship!"
"So why did he treat me like that? He had countless ways, if he didn’t want to lose face, he could have dodged, and his later actions proved it. If he wanted to stop me, he could have safely just held me completely, and I wouldn’t have had any issue, but he chose to directly pull me down. Shaq’s actions didn’t consider me as a friend! In Huaxia, we have an old saying, we treat our friends well and for enemies we have spears and cannons!"
"He was already regretting it, he wanted to help you up, but you pushed his hand away."
"So now, if I kick you and then reach out to help you up, could you act like nothing happened?"
The Miami journalist really wanted to say "I could," but seeing Su Wan actually stand up, he ultimately swallowed the word.
He stopped talking.
Su Wan looked at the other journalists:
"Bruce Bowen and Ray Allen have known each other since they were kids, they’re friends. Yet in a past game, Bruce kicked Ray in the back, and Ray’s method was to break off the friendship and then in the just-concluded SuperSonic vs. Spurs series, Bruce tripped Ray again. What does this tell us? It shows that sometimes, the best way to retaliate is to let the other party know how it feels to have the same thing done to them. I believe Shaq will think twice next time he faces someone wanting to dunk over him, because now he knows what it feels like to be thrown down to the ground!"
"If he dares next time..."
"It just proves that he wasn’t hurt badly enough this time!"
Total defeat!
The Miami journalist walked away dejectedly.
On the other side, when Wade was asked about it, he chose to avoid answering, "I just want to know how Shaq is doing, I hope he’s okay; if there’s a problem, I think it will be big trouble for us."
"Do you think who should primarily be responsible for the conflict on the court?"
"...Next question!"
"Do you think it was Shaquille O’Neal’s fault?
"...Next question!"
"This conflict..."
"If there are no other questions, let’s end today’s interview here!"
...
This was definitely the most grueling interview Wade had ever participated in.