Before the Mavericks stormed back in the fourth quarter to eventually defeat the visiting Rockets 123-120 on Wednesday night, there was a kerfuffle between former teammates Vince Carter and Dwight Howard. Vince called Howard, “the biggest crybaby I know,” before refuting an identical claim by Howard.
During a second quarter timeout, Carter loudly told Dwight he was “the biggest crybaby I know” as Howard was unsuccessfully complaining to an official about a no-call.
After the game, Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas (by way of Beyond the Buzzer) asked Carter about the comment, and he didn’t back down.
“All the time,” Carter said of Howard’s whining to officials. “He always talks about how I’m a crybaby. I was like, ‘Yo, you’re the biggest crybaby I know.’ And then later, he’s like, ‘Yo, why’d you say that to me?’ But I know Dwight. It’s all good, but he is [a crybaby].
“I mean, he takes a lot of punishment, but I’m like, ‘Yo, c’mon Dwight, c’mon. You elbowed, you’re sitting in the paint the entire time. What are you whining about?’ He told me to stop crying. I was like, ‘What? Are you serious?'”
Carter and Howard played together for the 2009-10 Magic and 22 games the next season before Vince was dealt to Phoenix. Both players have a reputation for complaining to the refs, but there are no confirmed reports about over-active tear ducts for either.
Dwight also had a run-in with a Mavs fan in the fourth quarter. He lazily tossed the ball at the finger-pointing fan, but the fan, rather adroitly, hit it right back. Howard was assessed a technical for the toss, and as the Sporting News points out, the Mavs went on a 12-4 run after the tech for the victory.
In conclusion, Carter called Dwight a crybaby, and Dwight told Vince to “stop crying.” The in-game verbal sparring between these two is one step away from “I’m rubber, you’re glue, bounces off me, sticks to you.” Yeesh.
What do you think of Carter’s comments?
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