Whiteside has no time for Hawks' Prince: He's a 'fake tough guy'

Things got heated in South Beach when Miami hosted the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night.

With the Heat up 19 and only five minutes left in the game, Hassan Whiteside snagged an offensive rebound and went back up to put it in, only to be savagely yanked down to the court by Atlanta's Taurean Prince. Whiteside fell hard and hit the back of his head on the court, which resulted in the Heat's James Johnson having to be restrained by coaches and referees for getting up in the face of Prince.

Whiteside took umbrage at the unnecessary play, but wasn't fazed, seeing right through Prince's facade.

“Fake tough guy,” Whiteside told Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post. “That’s what happened.”

The Heat center appreciated that his teammates - particularly Johnson - had his back, even going as far to say that he would pay the inevitable fine that Johnson would get for his part in the melee. Other Heat players - Dion Waiters and Tyler Johnson - also received technical fouls for their involvement, however Whiteside didn't mention whether he would pay the automatic $2,000 fine for those.

Related: Whiteside offers to pay fine after Johnson ejected for defending him

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said that at that point in the game, the foul was unnecessary. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer agreed with his opponent, admitting it was a "dangerous" play.