Roy Hibbert and the Indiana Pacers were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs on Monday night in a bit of a blowout. That isn't the reason the All-Star center skipped shaking hands with the Miami Heat after the game, however, according to comments he made to the Indianapolis Star's Mike Wells.
Roy Hibbert didn’t want to interrupt Heat’s moment with handshake
The Pacers’ All-Star says he still has tremendous respect for the Miami Heat after skipping the handshake line.
LeBron James' path to greatness isn't so different
Ricky O'Donnell with some thoughts on LeBron's journey to greatness Hibbert explained to Wells that he understood that some of his teammates probably felt more obligated to go through with the routine handshakes because they’d previously been teammates of some Heat players. He didn’t feel that was necessary, because he felt their “moment” was more important than a handshake:
“I know some of our guys have played on teams with some of them, but I don’t know them personally,” Hibbert explained to The Star. “It was their moment because they won. I have tremendous respect for them, but I don’t know any of those guys personally and I didn’t want to interrupt their moment.”
Hibbert wasn't the only player that skipped the handshake line, however, as David West told the Star he skipped the line because "he doesn't have time to be buddies with his opponent." Hibbert's dismissal caught a bit more flak, since -- as Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver posted -- TNT showed video of Hibbert going straight to the locker room instead of the handshake line after the final buzzer.
No harm, no foul if Hibbert’s comments are genuine -- but it does paint an interesting picture on the TNT broadcast.
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