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Whiteside sits out another 4th quarter: 'I'm not talking to coach about it'

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports / reuters

Hassan Whiteside sat out yet another fourth quarter during the Miami Heat's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

Whiteside, who had a double-double in 16 minutes to follow up a triple-double performance on Friday, watched from the bench as DeAndre Jordan barraged the Heat's paint with alley-oop after alley-oop.

"There's no reason to keep talking about it. I'm just gonna play," Whiteside told Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel. "I'm not talking to coach about it. We've talked about it so many times."

Erik Spoelstra explained that Whiteside's benching had to do with the Heat's struggling offense. Evidently, he liked the spacing of a Chris Bosh-Luol Deng frontcourt more than having Whiteside on the inside clogging the paint.

Spoelstra also added that Whiteside was bothered by an ankle sprain. Whiteside said after the game that he's "tough" and that he was "fine."

Those explanations, however, fall short of explaining Spoelstra's yearlong preference to go without Whiteside in crunch time. On the year, Whiteside ranks seventh in crunch time minutes per game - behind bench players Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, and Gerald Green.

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